Sonic Halfa Chronicles
by Flute Chick
Summary: So what would happen if the ideas of ghosts were discovered on Mobius? One very surprised teenage hedgehog, who's about to go from blue to black . . .
1. Introduction

**Hello! I know there was an issue with this story before (I uploaded the wrong document) but it's back and I swear it's the best (and only, so far) crossover I've written yet! Enjoy!**

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><p><em>There are seven Gems of Reality<em>

_They are emeralds, though not of this world. _

_The first, a green gem:_

_The Gem of Life_

_The second, the red gem:_

_The Gem of Strength_

_The third, the yellow gem:_

_The Gem of Form_

_The fourth, the light blue gem_

_The Gem of Visions_

_The fifth, the dark blue gem_

_The Gem of Dreams_

_The sixth, the violet gem_

_The Gem of Control_

_The seventh, the white gem_

_Is the most powerful of all. It is the power source, known as the_

_Gem of Power._

_When all seven come together, they create a miracle_

_However, the only way to obtain them requires battling many adversaries,_

_Particularly the ghosts, far different on Mobius than on your world . . ._

_-O_

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><p>My name is Sonic Daniel Hedgehog, but I go by Sonic. I have a sister named Sonia, and my parents, who everyone knows as Mr. and Mrs. Hedgehog, as they do for most adults, are nuts. Why do I say that? Well, they're obsessed with ghosts. Their job description is "ghost hunters." And guess who they tried to take along on the ride every day for his entire life?<p>

"Sonic! Check out our newest invention, son!" That was my dad, the one who looks like a really old version of me with a mustache. I groaned and followed him to our lab/basement. Normally I avoid it.

There was my mom, wearing her goggles and getting to work. In the side of the wall there was a high-tech tunnel with a lot of green lights and such built in. A lot of wires were attached to it, and I noticed that they all connected to another supercomputer of theirs, pushed up against the wall.

"It's a Ghost Portal! When we get it working, it will open up into the Ghost Zone!" I sighed. Another one of my parents' inventions that would probably never work. It was apparently a big one, and I knew that they would be really depressed if (ahem, when) it didn't work. (My dad was always sad enough when we didn't have fudge or chili dogs in the house; this would destroy him.) I watched my parents work away at it, and, when Mom plugged it in, it sparked a little, but that's all. They both looked like they were going to cry, but said nothing and walked upstairs. I immediately called Amy.

Amy and Tails are my best friends. Tails is the ultimate in computer nerds, and Amy could possibly be described as bipolar. She was passionate about what she believed in, though, and that included a lot of environmental things like recycling and saving endangered species. Tails always whispered, "Aw," behind our backs like we were a cute couple, but we've been friends since first grade. Freshman year at Emerald High would not change that.

Anyway, they both showed up in minutes. I led them downstairs, and showed them the portal, explaining how my parents were so upset.

"Maybe you can get it to work, Tails?" I asked hopefully. He shook his head.

"I doubt it. The computer is probably fine, it's the scientists that I'm worried about . . ." Both Amy and I glared and he stopped.

"Maybe there's something wrong on the inside of that tunnel?" asked Amy. I started to walk towards it, but Tails grabbed me first.

"I don't know, Sonic. It seems dangerous." Amy scowled.

"Tails, be quiet. It's his decision; if he wants to go in, he can. If not, I'll do it." That made up my mind. Amy was not going into the deathtrap that my parents made. I was. I thought as I held her back from it, _I swear, I'm not going to let anyone get hurt if I can help it. _

A word about ghosts here on Mobius, before I continue. According to Mom and Dad, the way to distinguish a ghost from a living person is to see if they have a slight white glow around them. And, if you want to know who they were before they were a ghost, they often will not tell you. It's easier to just compare looks. All ghosts have obsessions, whether it was revenge or cookies or anything really. There was a theory about half-ghosts that I don't remember a lot about, partially because I fell asleep during the long-winded lecture. You never know too much about them, because obviously it's a little hard to find something that most people don't believe in. But that's the facts that I know. Back to the story.

I stepped into the tunnel and immediately knew two things: it was dark, and I didn't know how long it was. I reached out to feel along the wall, and as my hand slid across the slick metal, it hit something, and I heard a _click._

Green sparks started to glow around me, and the metal began to glow white. I looked at where my hand was and found the "on" button. I cursed my dad for being a bit of an idiot, and thought one thing as my body began to feel like it was on fire: _At least I protected Amy from this._ Then it began.

I will never really know how long it was, but I did know that I wanted to die at that moment. It would be a lot more relaxing than what I was feeling. If you'd been struck by lightning, or set on fire, or shattered nearly every bone in your body, put those three things all together and multiply that pain times ten. That's about how much I was hurting. I was screaming, and that's probably the only sound that I could hear for however long it may have been. I didn't notice that I blacked out until I opened my eyes, realizing that I was lying on the lab floor. I sat up, feeling sore but surprisingly not in pain.

"Amy, Tails, what just happened?" I asked. My voice was probably hoarse from all that screaming, because it came out low and rough. Both of them were standing five feet away, looking at me like I was about to kill them.

"Why are you looking at me like that? What happened?" I asked. Amy blinked, and shivered.

"S-Sonic? Is it really y-you?" she asked. I furrowed my brow.

"Who else would it be?" Both of them were staring, not scared now, but immensely sad.

"Sonic . . ." I looked at the tunnel, seeing that it was green and glowing, but there were no other things visible in it. Then I got up and looked at the supercomputer screen, which was turned off, so I could see my reflection.

I might as well have screamed again.

Rather than a blue hedgehog with green eyes and red sneakers, like I expected, I saw a completely different thing. It was a black hedgehog that was a little more tan than me, with red highlights on his spikes. His chest fur was white, and he wore high-tech skates instead of sneakers, and his gloves were slightly different than mine. It wasn't even his white glow that freaked me out at first, but his eyes. They were scared, just like mine, but rather than the green I was so used to, they were a blazing blood red.

"Am I dead?" I asked incredulously, looking down at myself to see that the reflection was real. My two friends didn't answer.

"Sonic . . . I'm so sorry!" Amy started to bawl.

"What for?" I asked, hugging her close.

"I pretty much killed you, you know. I-I feel so horrible!" She sobbed into my chest, and I looked at Tails. He actually snickered and muttered "Lovebirds"! I pried her off of me.

"Amy," I began. Suddenly, I growled in my head. _Ah, why can't I be a normal hedgehog again!_ Suddenly, an iridescent flash of light surrounded me.

"Huh?" I looked at the computer screen again, fearful that something somehow worse had happened—but I was me again!

Amy was still crying, not even looking at me. I pulled her chin up, and she stared, shocked.

"Sonic?"

"Yeah, Amy, I'm here. I don't think that I'm dead. I think I'm half ghost—it's something that my parents told me about once. I don't remember much except that it means that I have a ghost form and a normal hedgehog form. Maybe we should come up with a name for my ghost half . . ." I was so relieved that I wasn't dead that I hardly cared that I was half-ghost. I was just happy enough to be alive.

"It should start with an S like your real name, shouldn't it?" asked Tails.

"Your other half . . . hm . . . what about Shadow?" asked Amy. Both Tails and I nodded eagerly.

"Yeah . . . Shadow the Hedgehog . . . I like it!" I said. And so began our adventures.

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><p><strong>And that was the introduction to this lovely story! (hehe, you didn't see <em>that<em> one coming did you? Sonic and Shadow the same person! Ha! It's pure genius if I do say so myself.) Anyway, please review, and tell me if you think I should continue. By the way . . . check out my other stories if you get the chance! I'd appreciate it! **


	2. Power and Obsession

**Well, here's chapter 2! I tried to stay true to the story, but I really can't stand that lunch lady, so she didn't get a chapter to herself. But I promise that certain characters will be introduced to match up with others in DP that you might not expect. For one, well . . . just look! (But here's a hint on a later one, so don't read this if you don't want a spoiler: Vlad enters in this chapter, but not the way you expect! You'll see later!**

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><p>I was sitting at a lunch table outside after school. So far, things had actually been going well. I'd finally stopped turning invisible and intangible at random, and I'd finally mastered my running at high speeds. I could break the sound barrier in both forms now, and I found it very fun to do so. I could beat the little ghosts that came out of the Ghost Zone occasionally, and throw them back in.<p>

I was relaxing for once, happy not to have anything to do or anyone to stuff me in a locker as usual. Sadly, my biggest tormentor and his girlfriend (The prettiest girl in the school by the standards of every guy) were heading my way. Amy and Tails were not there, because Tails was tutoring Amy in biology and she needed help badly. I was alone on this one.

"Hey, Sonic," said Knuckles, the guy who constantly stuffed me in lockers.

"What, Knucklehead?" I asked wryly, annoyed that he had ruined my only bit of relaxation for the day.

"Leave him alone!" said Rouge, cuddling up to the jock.

"It's fine, baby, he's nothing. So, are you scared of the ghosts that have been attacking lately, Hedgie?"

"They come out through my basement. No."

"I got a proposition for you, okay? If I get an A on my next English report, I get to go on the spring trip with all the other guys. If I don't, then you're dead meat. Get the picture?" The red echidna cracked his knuckles. I scowled and shook my head, refusing to let him cheat. He growled and dragged me by the shirt inside, then stuffed me in my locker. I waited a minute, then phased out of it. I thought that I could cut through the lunch room to get out faster, but met a detour.

I realized in seconds that the ghost was not friendly, because she was scowling darkly. She was an old lady with a pink dress and a white apron. She could have been my grandmother—if my grandmother glowed.

"This school doesn't feed you children healthy, good food!" she said to me, a sort of rant seeming to come on.

"I bring my own lunch, ma'am, so I wouldn't know," I replied, attempting to keep her calm.

"Want a cookie?" she asked sweetly. I nodded, actually a little hungry. Maybe this would be a nice ghost-

"TOO BAD!" –Scratch that. A bunch of random food items flew around her, and it was like looking at a gigantic disgusting monster. I stepped back, preparing to fly away. This was the first ghost that I'd had to fight that wasn't a simple blob. I transformed regardless and zipped around her, trying to find weak points. Punching did no good, though, because the food just re-formed.

"Uh, I don't like the lunches here either. Last time I ate from this cafeteria, I got sick." She just roared in rage and blasted me with more random food. I pulled out one of the latest inventions that my parents wanted to test—the Chaos Thermos. Ghosts fed off of two types of energy. One type was from their ectoplasm, which kept them alive, kind of like blood in humans. The other kind was Chaos, which showed how powerful they were. The higher amount of Chaos energy that they emitted meant the more powerful and potentially dangerous the ghost was. The Chaos Thermos was supposed to suck in and contain a ghost with any Chaos readings at all. I reluctantly popped off the lid and pointed it at the lady gone mad.

A white light burst out of the Thermos and she was sucked in. I sighed in relief.

"Note to self: sometimes my parents' inventions are actually helpful. Sometimes, they are dangerous." I headed back to my place and called Tails and Amy. They both freaked out that I had defeated a more dangerous ghost, but I told them that I was alright. Which I was—in fact, I was extremely happy that I'd finally managed to beat another slightly sentient ghost. Those tended to be more powerful than the little blobs with faces that I normally dealt with.

I wondered if I'd get to see another one soon as I was finishing my homework, when lo and behold, I got a shiver up my back that I knew meant one thing: a ghost was nearby. I transformed into Shadow and phased out of my room, landing on the ground agilely and skating around the area to find the ghost. And oh, I found him.

I didn't know that he was a ghost at first, because he looked so normal. He was bald, really pudgy, and had a big mustache. He wore a uniform that made me guess that he used to work in a warehouse of some kind.

"Beware! I, Eggman, the Box Ghost and commander of all things cube, will destroy you!" he proclaimed, floating a few feet off of the ground. I literally stared at this.

"Box. Ghost. Really?" I winced at the name, almost sympathetic for this guy. Different ghosts had different attacks and obsessions which often went hand in hand. This couldn't be that much of a threat—although I had had enough trouble with the lunch lady. He summoned a bunch of flying, glowing boxes, and commanded them to throttle me. I dodged easily enough at first, but then they actually began to pelt me. It hadn't occurred to me that the boxes most likely wouldn't be empty.

"Ow!" I yelled when a broken staple managed to stick me in the arm. I saw a huge refrigerator come hurtling at me, and, knowing that I couldn't dodge it, and hadn't really thought of turning intangible, so I acted on pure instinct.

"_Chaos Control!"_ I was engulfed in a light that quickly flashed through the spectrum, and then was suddenly behind the annoying ghost. I furrowed my brow as he cackled, and then went into some speech:

"Ha! You are a weakling! There is no way that you can induce Chaos Control, or any of the pure Chaos attacks! That was a fool's mistake to try!" I tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned. Before he could react, I gave him a good punch to the jaw. He flew back a few feet, but I wasn't lucky enough.

"FOOL! I am the master of all things cardboard! You cannot hope to defeat such mighty power!" I raised my eyebrows, still not entirely absorbing his earlier speech. When I had dodged a few more boxes, I questioned him.

"Chaos attacks?"

"Chaos Control, Chaos Spear, and Chaos Blast are the most powerful and difficult. Ghosts of my caliber even have no way to master them, and new ghosts have no such powers at all. If you truly did try Chaos Control, then it was a fluke that you survived. You won't succeed again." I got a little hope from that statement that he had yet to do what I just did. I centered myself, skating circles around him. I chose a random moment and stopped, then yelled, hoping against all hope that it would work. I held my hand out like I was about to throw a javelin, feeling a strange energy tingling in my hand.

"_Chaos Spear!"_ He could do nothing but gawk as a red and white light flew from my hands right in his face. I sucked him into the Thermos and heard him yell from the inside:

"I will have my revenge!" I sighed. He would definitely be an annoyance later on. I went to bed that night completely exhausted.

I headed home, excited to call Tails and Amy about that entire ordeal—of course, after dumping Eggman back into the Ghost Zone.

The next day, I was in a better mood. I walked to school, and no ghosts showed up. I grinned at my luck. Of course, it wasn't long before I had to deal with _something—_that something just happened to be a dragon.

I changed into Shadow under the cover of a bush, and people around the school were running around screaming. When Rouge caught sight of me facing the dragon, she didn't scream more. No, she did something far more unexpected.

"Whoever that guy is, he sure is _hot!_" I was stunned for a second. _Hot?_ Since when did she consider me even decent? I knew I looked different as Shadow, but I would think Rouge would get a better clue and . . . wait . . . I forgot that she wasn't that bright except for looks.

I ran up to the dragon and he squinted down on me.

"You expect to defeat me, Halfling? I am the possessor of the Gem of Life, one of the seven Chaos emeralds! You couldn't hope to defeat me! In fact, you couldn't defeat my minions supplied by the Gem of Life!" I looked at the gigantic green gem he was holding. It was glowing now, so intensely that I really couldn't see even the black claws that held them. All of a sudden, trash cans, cars, and a truck started glowing green too. I stepped back warily. Then . . . they came to life! I immediately began to fight, not using any of my Chaos powers yet in the hopes that I wouldn't need to. I had to be more careful, though, because other Mobians were watching in a crowd a short distance away.

"What is your name?" the dragon hissed as I beat the three trashcan monsters back. When I beat one, it turned back to normal, so I tried to beat them all. Unfortunately, the cars came in at that moment and I got run over multiple times. I growled. Finally, I knew I couldn't handle it anymore. I had to use a Chaos attack, no matter how much it tired me.

"_Chaos Spear!"_ I suddenly realized that this time, I didn't create just one. Ten red lights floated around me, and I raised my hands, letting the power build up in them. Then I waved forward and the "spears" assaulted the glowing, monstrous objects until they were just debris from the fight. I looked up at the dragon at that time, seeing green eyes among the shining black scales.

"You are a strange one. Not many can conjure any pure Chaos powers without the help of a Gem of Power like this. Some cannot even with one. You would do well to come with me . . . train with me in my realm in the Ghost Zone . . ." When he got blasted in the face, he stopped trying to get me to come with him. I avoided the flames to the best of my ability, although I think I singed some of the fur on my arms. Remembering something from an old book, I aimed for his chest, a weak point, and he screamed. I took out the Chaos Thermos, and all that was left was the glowing green gem. I picked it up and suddenly felt wide awake and not sore at all. I looked around to find the crowds surrounding me. In the very front was a snowy white bat.

"Hey, what's your name, cutie?" she asked. I masked my shock and crossed my arms.

"I am Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog," I said, feeling ready to get out of there. Drawing on the newfound energy from the Chaos Emerald, I decided to get out even quicker.

"_Chaos Control!"_

Suddenly I was at home, which was farther than I'd ever gone before. My parents and Sonia were crowded around the T. V, watching an instant replay of . . . my fight. I changed back into Sonic before any of them could notice.

"What are you guys watching?" I asked. Only Sonia turned around.

"Shadow the Hedgehog's fight. Mom and dad are probably going to watch it five times before they realize that you're home. Then you'll be forced to watch, too. They think that this one's a 'half ghost' or whatever. You know me though: I think that they're both nutcases when it comes to that kind of thing. I'm going to go call Bartleby."

"Yuck. I forgot that you had a taste in older, rich, snooty, stuck up losers."

"Shut up! I met him after I was forced to go to one of those ghost hunting exhibitions with Mom and Dad, you know. Apparently they sort of knew each other, and Dad had messed him up for a while."

"Which gives him more reason not to date you. You must really be avoiding bringing him home."

"Ugh, I'm leaving. Have fun watching that video with Nutcase one and two." She stormed out the front door after that, and I was then subjected to just what she had predicted. I had to watch first public ghost fight that I've had on video over and over again. And my parents reacting to it . . .

"Honey, can you believe it? It's the most powerful thing I've seen. He's nearly the equivalent to a living hedgehog with that structure. And he's so powerful . . . that's uncommon, even unheard of, to have just Chaos Powers . . ." Mom was taking notes. Sonia was sitting in a chair behind me, not watching the video but my reactions. I noticed that when I said my name to Rouge and Chaos Controlled out, I looked a lot cooler than intended. I had wanted to avoid her, but intead I made a dramatic exit.

"He seems to be avoiding the crowds . . . even protecting them!" Dad exclaimed.

"Maybe he is? Maybe he wants to be sure that they're safe?" I suggested. Mom snorted.

"I doubt it, honey. Ghosts tend to focus on two things. One: their obsession, be it revenge, an old memory, or anything really. The other thing is power and gaining it. There isn't a single ghost with a true mind and heart for others that I've seen. I doubt even half ghosts don't have obsessions if they exist. This one, though . . . he's on another level from any ghost I've seen. Chuck, did you see that? He has _pure_ Chaos powers! It's astounding!" Dad nodded.

"I know, Aleena. I can hardly believe it myself. Why, the only other one I know of to have those intense powers . . . well, it certainly isn't this one. Is it possible that he's the one from that old prophecy that we managed to find?" I got interested then.

"Prophecy?"

"We once found an old piece of paper with high ectoplasm readings. It said something about the old Ghost King rising again, and a new king coming to imprison him forever, and something involving the new king being the 'Ultimate Life Form' and having a core of pure Chaos. I know you don't know what a core is, so I'll explain: a core is like a ghost's heart. It is made of a combination of ectoplasm and solidified Chaos—the ratio is different for each ghost. An old ghost who used to rule the others apparently had the ratio of one particle of ectoplasm to a million Chaos particles—which made him immensely powerful. He had seven Chaos Emeralds and a Master Emerald . . . but he was cruel and destructive. Another ghost, known as the Oracle, locked him away, using the white Chaos emerald as the lock and the other six as the key. The Master emerald . . . I'll explain that one to you another time, sweetie," Mom finished, ruffling my hair.

Finally, I complained that I'd never get my homework for Mr. Vector done if I didn't get started, and they let me go. That teacher was especially annoying because in addition to picking on me for every answer that I didn't know, he expected me to stay after school every time I did worse on a test than he expected. He was my favorite and yet my least favorite teacher.

Of course, he was like that with everyone.

Tonight, however, I didn't have homework in his class. I was just glad that I had an excuse to get out of that constant replay of my awkwardness in getting out of there. At least, it felt awkward to me when I did that with Rouge, but looking at the tape, I guess not. In fact, it sort of seemed cool and mysterious, which I wasn't. My cell phone rang in seconds.

"SONIC! HAVE YOU GONE MAD? FIGHTING A DRAGON? ARE YOU TRYING TO GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK?" . . . It was Amy. I assured her that everything was fine and that she didn't need to worry about me.

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><p><strong>Have you guessed who Vlad is this time? Well, if not, you'll see. Oh, and I know I forgot this before:<strong>

**Disclaimer: Now, if I owned Sonic, Danny Phantom, any of the plots, or any of the characters, I would not be on this website. You would also not be reading my Sonic fanfic if you have, because I would have already turned it into a game, and you will not be reading my DP fanfic in the near future (once I get some chapters edited) because they would have been episodes. So do I own Danny Phantom and Sonic? I think not. But I wish I did. Sigh. **

**See you guys next time!**


	3. A Chao, a Promise, and an Insane Maniac

**Well, guys, I hope you like this one! I had to think long and hard about that hint last chapter . . . it will become known in this chapter who Vlad is. Hopefully I pulled it off okay. Oh, and yes, there's more than just 'enter the fruitloop' in this. I also tried to make a nice little emotional bit . . . enjoy!**

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><p> At school the next day, I got the pounding that Knuckles had promised. Also, Rouge treated me like a piece of gum on her shoe. Did I mention that a ghost Chao was bugging me all the way home? It was. It didn't do any harm, so I left it alone at first. I figured that it probably wouldn't do anything until I ran into Blaze, another girl in my class. She's a purple cat who sometimes hangs out with Rouge, but not often. I happened to know that Silver, the quiet guy who Knuckles picked on even more than me, liked her a ton, but she didn't notice.<p>

She looked at the Chao and just about exploded.

"That's the thing that attacked my dad! He went to feed it and it knocked him clear across the street! He nearly got run over!" I backed up slowly. She began to fight the little thing, but it was somehow holding its own—it was like it had the strength of an elephant in that little body. I walked away quickly without Blaze noticing a thing, then came back as Shadow.

"Need help?" I asked. She growled and blasted flames suddenly at the little guy.

"I don't need help from another _ghost_." She said ghost like most people might say _murderer._

"I haven't done anything to you! I can dump him back at the Ghost Zone quickly if you want."

"Ugh! Just get it out of here and leave me alone!"

"Jeez . . . sorry . . ." I grabbed the Chao and felt an odd adrenaline rush, like when I had first grabbed the Gem of Life. Only this time, rather than the dragon telling me, I heard a voice that could have been wind whispering _The Gem of Strength, the Gem of Strength._ I found the gem, which the Chao had miraculously hidden away, and carried him to my basement where he flew off on his own into the portal. I went upstairs in my room to find a note.

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><p><em>Sonic<em>

_You are a hero. The seven Chaos Emeralds, two of which you now possess, will allow you to be unstoppable, but first you must overcome many challenges. I wait upon your visit to my realm. _

_-O_

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><p>"O? I guess they want to be anonymous . . . but what realm do they want me to visit?" I was confused.<p>

I managed to get another gem a few days later from a creepy dude who was using it to make an oddball show. It was a sick way of using people's flaws to make them feel horrible about themselves, so when I got it from him, I was relieved.

Of course, the process of getting it was harder than expected. I first saw the sign for his show when I passed by it on patrol for ghosts. It read:

_**Freakshow's Freak Show! All are welcome! **_Another said: _**Closed Until 9:00 P. M.**_ It was three at that point.

I phased in under the tent door when no one was looking, then invisibly turned into Shadow. I walked farther in and regretted it in an instant. People were either on stages or in tanks or cages, with signs in a spidery font stating what oddity they were. Conjoined twin girls were dubbed "The Spider Women". Also, a man who had no arms or legs sat on a chair in a cage, seeming to mutter to himself. I was disgusted—what kind of monster put people on display? I thought about how I'd decided to enter as Shadow. Maybe it was because I was a bit of a freak, too. I'll never really know why exactly. I was just glad that the lighting hid my glow from anyone in here.

I walked by each one of them, and they looked at me with empty eyes. It was like they had given up hope. I stopped when I got to "The Real Mermaid". It was a human girl, no more than maybe twelve or thirteen years old. She was in a tank that was filled waist-deep in disgusting pond water. Her skin was sickly blue from cold, and blonde, curly hair was nearly green with algae in it. Her legs were indeed stuck together, scaly, green, and resembled a fish tail. Thin webbing was noticeable between her fingers. When she looked up at me, I saw the only trait that he had obviously not exploited: blue, crystalline eyes, like the deep ocean—though it was clear that there was no life left in them. Her face, which would have been pretty, gave a sick grimace when she saw me. It aged her face by thirty years at least.

"Get out of here. He'll take you if he realizes you aren't paying." I shook my head. She smirked.

"It's not worth trying to save us, you know. That's how I got here. He used a golden gem . . . I'd never seen anything like it before. I wasn't always like this; none of us were. He usually gets a new one when business starts to get slow. When he comes in, we all act our parts, and I warble out some random tune like the Little Mermaid."

"How can he not get caught with this?" I wondered. This kind of thing wasn't even acceptable a hundred years ago, much less now.

"He uses that gem. I don't know how, but when he uses it, we all change into automatons . . . the police come, they have a good laugh about how people buy into the hokey-ness of it, and then leave without a problem."

"There must be something I could do . . ." I was saying, more to myself. I was thinking about how the gem was probably a Chaos Emerald.

"Get out, or else, you'll be in the cage next to me. I doubt he would pass up the opportunity."

"What's your name?" She hardened at that, not towards me, but her eyebrows furrowed and she pursed her lips that were white from the cold water.

"I-I don't think I remember. It's been three years since I've heard it . . . I think it sounded like Mermaid, but he changed it in his creativity. I don't know." She seemed frustrated but incredibly sad, like a real girl her age and not one that was older than she should be. I thought for a few seconds, and a name came to mind.

"Are you Maria Robotnik? There was a report on a missing girl with that name a couple of years ago . . ." Her eyes widened.

"Yes! Oh, thank you! You have no idea what it's been like! It was like I was dead, but I still had to . . . he's coming! Get out!" It was no longer a dismal warning, but true concern. I nodded.

"Maria, promise me you won't forget again," I said, not wanting her to have to forget who she was, like I did so often. She nodded.

"And you make a promise to me, alright? Protect them . . . the people who can't protect themselves. Wait, I don't even know your name!" She yelled as I started to go. That was the first time she had told me to stay.

"I'm Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog." Then I went out the back, invisible as I got out. I changed into Sonic, but stayed invisible.

I came to a halt at the corner of the street where the man himself was on the corner, advertising his show. He was pale with a big nose and no real hair visible. He had a black trench coat and a bowler cap, and a red scarf, as well as black leather boots and an old cane. The man himself though was small, probably not too much taller than me. I noticed in a moment as I came near him that I felt the way I did whenever I got closer to the "Gem of Life". I walked by him carefully, and then turned intangible, passing my hand through his hat. He whipped around, as if he'd noticed, but luckily he was just spazzing about his show, gushing to any and all passerby about his amazing oddities. When I turned the corner, where no one was even around, I turned visible and tangible again, and the gem was in my hand. I concentrated, wanting to know what kind of gem this was.

_The Gem of Form. The Gem of Form. _That's what I heard whispering in the breeze as I stuck it in my quills to hide it. I concentrated again, now seeing if I could undo what he had done to them—especially Maria. I walked around the block again and peeked into the tent again. Now there were just a bunch of average people milling about, and I saw Maria looking at her hands, and her little blue school uniform, and running her fingers through her golden blonde hair. I saw her mouth "Shadow" with happy tears in her eyes. Then the man himself walked in on the commotion. He ran into me on the way in and froze a foot in front of me. Then he started shrieking, so I ran as fast as I could just to get away from the obvious insanity that was there. Police sirens could be heard within minutes. I breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that maybe I could collect all of these gems and keep the destruction to a minimum.

I came home that night to Sonia and Bartleby in the kitchen.

"Ugh! All I wanted was a chili dog, and now I think I've lost my appetite!" I groaned. Breaking their lovey-dovey gaze, Sonia growled at me warningly, but the jerk I was actually annoyed with just laughed.

"Oh, let him be, Sonia dear. In fact, I was wondering if Sonic would like to come with me to my house for a little fun. Why not, hm?" he directed the question to me.

"If you stop talking about me in third person while I'm here, sure. I'll go."

Sonia was easier on me after that. We made plans for Friday night, and Tails and Amy told me that they'd call me at the first sign of trouble. Of course, my mom actually kept the portal locked up that night, so no ghosts came out whatsoever.

I still wish she hadn't.

I showed up at the big, fancy mansion in seconds, trying to be late but failing to have an excuse for myself because I could just Chaos Control there. The blonde snob himself answered the door and led me into his basement, where there was a huge video game system. I went to sit down on the couch, but he shook his head.

"Something else that I want to show you first," he explained. I got back up and followed him through a door at the back of the room to find . . . a lab like the one my parents had. However, this one was darker, and kind of reminded me oddly of medival torture rooms. But I laughed anyway.

"Wow. If Sonia ever saw this, she'd dump you in a second flat. She and I both call our parents nutcases enough already—" He put up his hand, and I was cut off.

"I'm sure you believe in what your parents and I do, regardless of what your sister might say," he said, his eyes never leaving mine.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do, Sonic. You know more about ghost hunting than your parents, I'm sure."

"Uh . . ."

"You are Shadow the Hedgehog. I figured as much when Chuck started to brag about finally getting that Ghost Portal working after just reporting that it had failed miserably. Then Shadow showed up with no clear death being announced that I could find. It was most peculiar. Then I realized something." I stepped back. He was creeping me out—and he didn't creep me out normally. Normally, he was just incredibly irritating.

"You are just like me, you know—remember how I was in an accident due to you father?" I did. Then I realized with a shock—not a literal one this time—that it was like _my_ accident.

"Then . . . you're . . . a half ghost?"

"You got it. I call my other half Scourge—because as Scourge, I can destroy all who oppose me and those who have put me down, namely your father."

"What?"

"He is the one who did this to me in the first place, after all. I plan on collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald, and using them to become the most powerful man in the world—this one and the Ghost Zone. I have one already, and I sense you have one on your person as well . . ." Wrong. I had three on me. Of course, that wasn't really a good thing, considering that this guy was probably about to mop the floor with me. And what was the Master Emerald?

"Of course, you probably understand. That battle with the dragon? We obviously have a common goal, so we could easily help each other," he continued.

"We both want to collect the Chaos Emeralds, but that's it, Bartleby. I have hated you since I met you, and now I have more than one reason: the new one being that you are INSANE!" I changed into Shadow and Chaos Speared him in seconds. He put up a shield—aw, why couldn't I have a shield?—and growled.

"If that's how you feel, then I'm afraid that I'll take your Chaos Emerald." I watched as a sort of blackness flashed around him, and he became something as far from the snob I knew. He looked almost exactly like me—no, not as Shadow, but as Sonic—except he was green, had a black leather jacket and sunglasses. And, of course, he was glowing. As I took this in, he lunged.

"Let's see if you can take someone of my power, eh?" he said. His voice was different, not the normal snobby drawl I usually heard, but something like mine as Sonic, with a bit of an edge. Suddenly, Amy and Tails burst in. They had probably come to get me about some ghost blob, because I didn't hear about it later, but obviously this was more important.

"Shadow!" both of them yelled, seeing that Scourge had already pinned me to the floor in seconds. Scourge sent a blob of ectoplasm at each of them—I had to learn how to do that to keep Sonia from bugging me occasionally—and stuck them to the floor. However, Amy had dodged it and pulled Tails free. He used some weird blaster on Scourge, and he growled as he got shocked.

"Hey! You'll get it for that one! Ah . . ." he summoned a sort of negative Chaos energy that oddly didn't seem as powerful as my Chaos Spear and sent it at my two friends. I moved without thinking and was standing in front of them, my two hands out, and a red see-through Chaos Shield in front of me. I hadn't thought—just reacted—and my promise to Maria came back. I wasn't in love with her like some might have guessed. She would have been my little sister or maybe my daughter in a right world. I grinned when the energy from Scourge clashed against the shield and disappeared.

"Nice try, Scourge. Hm . . ." I concentrated on the Gem of Strength that I'd hidden. I then charged him and he was sent flying into some of his equipment. It was nothing thanks to that emerald. Then I concentrated on the Gem of Life, and a few objects in the lab started to glow. _Attack him,_ I said in my head. It had only been pencils, a few small devices, and a lamp, but it was hilarious to see that happen to him. Then I concentrated on the Gem of Form. _Now turn into metal and meld together . . . shackle him up._ He rolled over to the side before it could get him and I gave up on that gem. He snarled at me.

"Look, we're the same, Shadow. We both are half-ghosts, both because of your idiot father. We're both a lot cooler as our ghost halves—one bad day, and you'd be just like me. You can't win. Whatever you do, I'll see it coming, because I've got the Gem of Visions. Good luck getting it, Shadow," he spat my name as he pulled out the emerald. It was sky blue and sparkled. I grinned at my luck.

"Big mistake. Chaos Control!" I yelled, and grabbed the emerald before teleporting again to the other side of the room. His eyes widened.

"No _half _ghost could . . . that's insane . . ." he started to back away, but Amy sucked him into the Thermos. Tails messed with the wiring of it so that it was timed—while I was in third period at school, it would open and teleport itself back to my house. It was brilliant.

"I don't know what I'd do without you guys," I said. Maybe we would get some time together for once; after all, I haven't been hanging out with them lately a lot. Maybe soon I'd get a chance.

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><p><strong>And that's the end of the chapter. So . . . what do you guys think? I know three emeralds in one chapter is a lot, but there was no way I could make a big deal about the second one, so I just let it be that little bit with Blaze. Now, about Bartleby . . . you're probably thinking that I'm insane about letting Sonia date the equivalent of Vlad, but I figured that since this version of the Fruitloop was younger, and Sonia is technically Sonic's older sister in this, that it would be okay. Don't worry, I'll make them break up soon enough. Just imagine, Sonic and Scourge being brothers-in-law . . . ew. Ok, see you guys later!<strong>


	4. Entering the Castle of Nocturne

**This . . . is probably . . . not my best work. Just warning you. Later chapters will get better. I attempted to add a bit of the Reality Trip incident in this, probably failed. Enjoy anyway. **

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><p>Three days later, I got my chance. I was finally at a concert with Tails and Amy—just having fun. It was just before a long weekend, so we finally had some relaxing time. I checked my backpack for the usual supplies: our four Chaos Emeralds, the Thermos, and a first aid kit in case we had to deal with someone like Bartleby, a. k. a. Scourge. Our favorite band and the most popular one around, <em>Inferi<em>, was going to be doing their cover of Live and Learn and a few other songs that I was really into. I was excited and totally happy that day. Not even my dad attempting to shoot me out of the sky could get me down. The lead singer was always awesome. I unfortunately never got to hear him live, because all of a sudden, you guessed it, Scourge was there.

I hid under the bleachers, and watched for a few seconds as he trapped everyone in the audience in their own seats. Then I changed into Shadow and skated to the stage.

"Hey, Shadow! Ready for a beat down?" said the voice that was too much like mine to stand. He contrasted so much with his other half that it was crazy—but obviously, he had hidden who he really was. No one would connect snobby rich old Bartleby with the carefree bad guy Scourge, just like no one would connect weak, skinny little Sonic with the mysterious and powerful Shadow.

"Yeah, whatever, Scourge. I really was looking forward to this concert, so if you could please exit the theater—"

"Not a chance. I'm here for entertainment, too—the kind that I can only get by pounding your face in."

"I figured as much. Take me on, then!" We fought right there, and some girls in the crowd screamed my name, one being Rouge. I didn't have time for it, however. He blasted me, and I Chaos Speared back with all I had. Unfortunately, he caught me off guard, and blasted me out of the place. We continued our fight offstage, and then somehow he knocked me back on. I was tired at that point and completely drained of energy.

Naturally, I changed back into good old Sonic.

There were gasps in the crowd, but the main thing I heard was Knuckles yelling, "Sonic the Hedgehog is _Shadow the Hedgehog?_!" And then a bunch of yelling and randomness ensued.

"Uh, please tell me no one saw that," I said stupidly as the screen behind me showed my face, and the cameraman that was filming the fight zoomed in on me. I face palmed.

It took seconds for the G. U. N. agents to file in and proclaim that I was to be arrested. G. U. N. was basically a team of ghost hunters for the government; their initials stood for Ghost hunter's Underground Network. My parents idolized them at times, hated them at others. Amy, Tails and I ran—or rather, I ran and dragged them along—as fast as we could in order to outrun the guys in the army uniforms. We finally managed to get away when I stopped at home. I opened the door and found no one there.

"Mom? Dad?" No answer.

"Sonia?" Still nothing.

"I assume you want your family back, hm?" said a voice behind me. We whipped around and there was a ghost—all I could see was a pair of eyes in the dark purple cloak with a slight white aura around it.

"I am Nocturne, Ghost of Dreams. If you want your family back, you will bring your Gems of Power to the Dream Realm of the Ghost Zone in three days' time. If you don't . . . you will never see them alive ever again. Prepare for the nightmare of your life." Before anything could be done, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"A little cliché, don't you think?" asked Tails.

"We've got to do it. Plus, the only way to get away from G. U. N. is to go into the Ghost Zone—they can't enter the house without getting beat up if no one with Fenton DNA is home. Thank goodness for my parents' paranoia right now." We headed down to the lab, went through the ghost portal, and closed it behind us.

It was the first time I'd been there, and I was definitely impressed. It was like looking out into space, only it was green—I only saw floating doors that were all over the place as far as I could see.

"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" asked Amy. I shook my head.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Suddenly, a beeping went off on the Anti-Ghost Phones—the little earpieces that my mom created in case our cell phones were either lost or not working. It also filtered out noise that was powered by Chaos energy. (It was also helpful for playing my iPod when I didn't have earbuds.)

"Hello?" I asked tentatively.

"Sonic, it's Sonia. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Sonia. I'm inside the Ghost Zone—and you?"

"I'm okay. Mom and Dad want to talk to you but I don't know if you want to talk to them . . ."

"I do. Put them on." Some static was heard, and then I heard Mom.

"Honey, why didn't you tell us?"

"To be honest, it was self-preservation. I figured this: ghost hunters plus half ghost equals what? I didn't think you would be too happy and accepting," I said, a little bitter because that was exactly how they were. Then Dad spoke.

"Sonic, you could have told us. We love you, ghost, hedgehog, or anything in between. You need to know that."

"Nocturne is basically giving me three days to trade my four Chaos Emeralds for you guys. He has a fifth—the Gem of Dreams. What do you think I should do?"

"Son, don't give into him . . . can you by chance Chaos Control here?"

"I don't know. Let me see." I grabbed Amy's and Tails' hands, and, thinking about my parents and Sonia, yelled my famous two words while drawing on the power of the four emeralds I had.

"_Chaos Control!_" I opened my eyes from the flash to find myself standing on an island in the Ghost Zone. The island itself was all green, yet the only actual plant was a dead black tree. I looked up to find a purple castle—a high contrast to the green that I saw everywhere. It was tall and vaguely reminded me of the dragon that I battled not too long ago.

"Well, one way to go," I said. Tails hid behind me.

"Back home?" he asked hopefully. Amy rolled her eyes and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.

"I should have guessed not," he muttered as she dragged him through the wide-open door. We came into a huge stone hall where the ghost sat on a high throne.

"Give me back my family!" I said. Nocturne only laughed.

"Give me the Chaos Emeralds, and I might consider it."

"How do I know that you'll let them go when you have the Emeralds?" He chuckled again.

"Perceptive, hedgehog. I have to say that you've come for them and done well . . . but now I'm afraid that I must change our offer. You must defeat me and get them out of the castle yourself. One of which, you will have to do as Shadow, and one you will have to do as Sonic. Be warned: I have a lot of deadly traps set up so that you _don't_ come back." I looked at him like he was crazy—which he was.

"Fine, I'll fight you as Sonic." Tails and Amy gasped but could do nothing when Nocturne had suits of armor on the wall grab them and hold them back. I could do nothing to free them; I knew that instantly. He and I began to circle each other. I used my speed and shoved him into the wall, sending him into the next room. I ran through the dust to find him glowing and in a rage.

"You little ingrate . . . you will not survive this. Behold, the Gem of Dreams shall bring forth your worst nightmares!" he cackled. I ran to the right in an attempt to dodge whatever power the emerald sent at me to no avail. I was not faster than the speed of light.

_ I woke up in the room where Tails and Amy were. The knights weren't holding them—instead, they were torturing them. _

_ "Sonic! Save us!" said Tails, cutting off in a scream. But I couldn't move. Amy looked at me, her eyes bloodshot and crystal tears running down her cheeks, mixing with the blood that was pooling around her head. _

_ "Sonic . . . I thought you were my hero . . ." and the knight sent them both into screams of agony. no. No. No! _

"NO!" I screamed, kicking Nocturne high into the chandelier. He growled and pressed a button in the wall that I had yet to really notice. I was in a glass dome—set to explode in ten seconds! I didn't know how to get out in that amount of time when the dome was enhanced by a ghost shield. So, I did the only thing that came naturally:

"_Chaos Control!"_ I was suddenly on top of Nocturne.

"What? Impossible! A half ghost can't use Chaos in their normal form!" he exclaimed, shocked. I didn't have time to be surprised myself as I locked him in the thermos. I decided that I would be good on my word, and turned into Shadow to get Amy, Tails, Mom, Dad, and Sonia.

First, I got to Amy and Tails, who were thankfully not being tortured. The suits of armor were like stone, so I simply let Chaos Energy build up in my hand as I held one of the arms. It melted, and I did the same with the other. Both of them fell forward onto me.

"Shadow! Oh, thank you!" Amy cried into my shoulder. Tails grinned at me as I comforted her.

I mouthed over her shoulder, "what?"

"You two are so in love," he muttered aloud. Luckily, Amy didn't hear him, or she would've taken out her Piko-Piko hammer that she asked my mom to make for "defense against all these ghosts lately". The best I could do was glare at him, even if I did love Amy from the bottom of my heart. Then I grabbed them both and set off to find my family. First, I found Sonia hanging by her wrists above a cauldron of boiling goo that suspiciously looked like ectoplasm. I set Tails and Amy down, then dashed up to her, cutting the rope and catching her before she fell all in one move.

"Shadow? . . . Sonic?" she asked. I nodded at both.

"I can hardly believe it . . . my baby brother, a hero! It's incredible!" I rolled my eyes, grabbed Tails and Amy again, and zoomed through the halls to find my parents chained up in the dungeon.

"Mom! Dad!" I yelled, getting them to look up. When they saw me, they froze for a few seconds, then they broke into huge, teary grins.

"Sonic! Er . . . Shadow! You beat him, didn't you, son?" asked Dad. I nodded.

"I'm not going to chance him coming back, though. Once I get you out of these things, I'm Chaos Controlling us back home. Then I'm going to use the Gem of Dreams to fix the mess that's waiting for us there." I told them to hold hands in a circle, since it would be easier than trying to get them all on my back, and concentrated on the lab.

"_Chaos Control!"_ We were standing in my parents' lab.

"Okay, now we need to get someplace up high," I said. My parents nodded and let me up to the operation center—the highest point in both our building and in town. I was alone. I pulled out the Gem of Dreams and concentrated, and I saw tons of cars stop in the streets and people on sidewalks lay down. I imagined what I wanted them to think:

_A sense of numbness washed over everyone in town. Nocturne appeared again, and so did Shadow. Ectoplasm shot from under his cloak, and everyone was frozen in place. Shadow dodged it and came at Nocturne. _

_ "I swear, Nocturne, you won't win!"_

_ "How can I not, now that everyone knows your secret?"_

_ "That I'm a half ghost? So what!" Everyone remembered a flash of light on the concert stage, but couldn't remember who it left. _

_ "I was referring to your secret identity," said Nocturne. _

_ "Well, when you used the emerald to send your image, you made a mistake. I checked with my friends, and because of your mess-up, no one remembers the fact that I am also a certain other hedgehog. They know I am, but they don't know which one."_

_ "What?" Shadow defeated Nocturne, and everyone was suddenly free. _

I went downstairs and brought Tails and Amy upstairs, explaining what I'd just done.

"Sonic, you're brilliant!" Amy exclaimed. I probably turned about as red as Knuckles.

"I never would have guessed that you had done that . . . man, Sonic . . . you're pretty powerful . . ." said Tails.

"You think so?"

"Yeah!" I guessed that it was a little funny. I mean, weakling Sonic, the kid that Knuckles beats on every day, is Shadow the Hedgehog, the town's ghostly hero. I just narrowly escaped having the paparazzi and G. U. N. fighting over who got a hold of me first. That was a total relief.

Within the next few weeks, there weren't any Chaos Emeralds, nor were there any other really interesting ghosts. A lot of the time, the Box Ghost came in wailing about defeating me once and for all. On the Saturday that followed, I noticed all over that people were wearing these weird t-shirts. They were black with a weird symbol in front of a red glow. It was like a silhouette of . . . Shadow the Hedgehog. I looked on the back of Rouge's shirt to find that one. It was crazy.

"You like Shadow the Hedgehog, Knuckles?" I asked when I saw him wearing one in the Nasty Burger, the hangout of all the kids at my school.

"Duh. He's only the coolest person in existence! A half ghost . . . which could mean that he goes to our school. Heck, for all I know, Fang is Shadow!" Fang was one of Knuckles' followers. He was a lot smarter though, and he was a lot meaner too. He just hid behind Knuckles to wait for his chance to strike—earning him the nickname "the Sniper" from the kids who knew better.

"Wow. And to think I see him every day . . . I didn't know that he was such a huge deal," I shrugged. Rouge, who had previously only been hanging onto Knuckles' arm, immediately entered the conversation.

"You know him? What's his favorite color? Does he like the beach? Movies? . . . ." I completely missed the rest because she was talking too fast. Suddenly she just slowed down.

"Sorry. I just started the Shadow the Hedgehog fan club, and I think the girls on it would appreciate the information. Do you know a lot about him, or does he talk much to you?"

"He doesn't talk a lot except when it's just us two . . . I gotta go, Rouge. Hey, Amy!" I waved at her and ran as fast as I could without causing suspicion.

"What was Rouge talking to you about?" she asked.

"She's the head of the Shadow the Hedgehog fan club and wanted to know all about him, specifically his favorite color and that kind of thing." Amy just stared at me.

"You do realize that the most popular girl in school has a crush on you," she said with slight bitterness.

"What?"

"Let's see. She's wearing your t-shirt and is the founder and probably president of your fan club."

"Well, that's great and all, but I'm not really into her, Amy. Sure, I may have had a little crush at one point or another, but I don't _love_ her." _I love you,_ I thought silently.

"Wow. Most guys would kill to have her obsessed with them."

"I'm not most guys."

"Believe me, I know," she said quietly, almost silently.

I ran into a few smaller ghosts throughout the next few days. About ten of them were Eggman. I even had to take care of him during the school day at one point. It was not pleasant to say the least, especially in a crowded cafeteria.

"Shadow! Shadow! Shadow!" they'd cheered. That is, except for Amy, Tails, and Blaze. Blaze was silent. However, at the usual table we sat at, Amy and Tails were making good fun of me.

"Go, Eggman! You can do it!" joked Tails.

"Hey! That was a cheap shot!" Amy yelled when I Chaos Speared him in the back. I sucked him into the thermos with no problem. I had to turn invisible to change back into Sonic and make my way back to our lunch table. I smirked.

"What was that about a cheap shot?"

Within a few days, I noticed something about Sonia. She wasn't acting snobby towards me, and she didn't talk about Bartleby at all. I asked her why on a Wednesday.

"I broke up with him, actually," she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh . . . why?"

"I learned that he was as obsessed with ghosts as Mom and Dad. Did you know he got Shadow the Hedgehog and a ghost named Scourge to fight in his lab? I understood that they were already enemies, but really, he was just annoying. He kept saying how Shadow trashed everything . . . honestly, I bet Scourge would have done way more damage if Shadow hadn't been there. Oh, well. At least you won't need to complain about us in the kitchen anymore, huh?"

"Wow . . . is that really why you broke up with him?" Sonia acted like it sometimes, but really, she wasn't that superficial.

"No. He told me that if I expected to keep dating him, we needed to get more serious. I did not want to go as far as he was asking me." I didn't need to ask more.

"I'm sorry, Sonia. I know that must be rough for you."

"I'm okay with it. I think that kid I tutor from your class . . . Knuckles . . . has a bit of a crush on me. Gross, right?"

"I always thought he and Rouge were a perfect match, so I totally agree. I wouldn't be able to tolerate it."

"Neither would I. Speaking of dating and love lives, when are you going to ask Amy out?" I turned red.

"I don't like her like that! She's my best friend! Along with Tails . . ."

"Please. You really are an idiot."

"Alright . . . I do love her . . . but if she doesn't like me back, then our friendship would get all weird, and I couldn't do that to her . . ."

"She has been chasing you since she met you! Get it into your thick head that she likes you, Sonic, or you'll put her through more pain." I shook my head. Not only did I doubt that, I couldn't get closer to Amy for another reason: I didn't want her to get hurt. She was the world to me, and I couldn't ever let her get hurt. Sonia didn't know that though, and shook her head as she went to her room to do homework. I sighed and got some chili dogs out of the freezer and tried to forget about it.

What's wrong with that? I inherited my dad's love of chili dogs, so what?

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><p><strong>Well, that's it for now. I promise later chapters will not stink like that one did. I swear! And-I-Will-Have-Maria-Return-Very-Close-To-The-End! Oh yeah, and I think I'll have Ember in the next chapter. We shall see.<strong>


	5. Power Chord

**Here's the next chapter! Enter Ember the Echidna!**

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><p>The next few days were centered on a concert at school. Of course, you know how artists in the music business get famous overnight. Ember was like that, I guess. She was this echidna with coral hair done in a ponytail like Blaze's—only hers had cyan, flame-shaped marks. She always wore this black tutu thing with ripped fishnets and black combat boots. It wasn't really my style of music either, because it was some kind of girly pop thing that was a little too . . . feminine . . . for me. It really was embarrassing to even listen to it.<p>

However, she was doing a concert at school, so I had no choice but to listen. We all flooded into the gym, and I ended up with Tails and Amy on either side of me, Rouge and Knuckles behind me, and Silver in front of me while Blaze sat behind Rouge.

Ember was on stage now, and her band seemed to be wearing black hoodies to hide their faces and draw attention away from them. I saw Ember walk on, thick black eyeliner under her violet eyes. She smiled and waved-she was wearing black fingerless gloves, and her guitar was neon purple. Again, I wasn't interested, but I clapped for a little bit. The only guy that I noticed to really applaud was Knuckles . . . and Rouge didn't seem too happy about it, so he stopped.

"Hello, students of Casper High! I'm Ember, and I'm here to give you a show! Now let's party!"

She strummed a few chords, then began to sing. **(A/N: This is my version of the song and these are not the real lyrics-though I used some of them, which I did not create. Ember was once a young girl named Tikal, in case any of you were wondering about her past/other character-ness in this story. That's just a side note. Enjoy!)**

_ "Yeah! Oh . . . /It was, it was September/wind blows, the dead leaves fall/ to you, I did surrender/ two weeks, you didn't call/ You think I am alone now/ you kiss her in the rain/ but I watch, and I know better/ you will remember my name. _

_ "Oh Ember, you will remember!/ Ember, one thing remains./ nothing will last forever/ but you will remember my name! _

_ "I am, I am the one now/ you think you've got me around / I thought you would never, never/ return to the love that you found / Yeah but I can't, can't let you do this/ have to move on, not play your game/ oh, like a bad dream in cold December/ nothing but ashes remain. _

_ "Oh Ember, you will remember!/ Ember, one thing remains./ Oh Ember, so warm and tender/ you will remember my name!/ O-woo-O-woo-Oh Ember, you will remember! Ember, one thing remains!/ Oh, Ember, oh, please remember/ Death's something that you can't tame!_

_ "You walk, away with nothing/ broken hearts, shattered dreams/ these are what you brought me/ now I know things are not what they seem/ I was happy, and I was hopeful/ you think I would be again/ though my heart does not mend easy/ burning bright, I remember my name! _

_ "Oh Ember, you will remember!/ Ember, one thing remains./ Only one thing will last forever:/ you will remember my name!"_ Everyone stood up cheering, so I followed suit. Honestly, I didn't think it was all that good. She was pretty talented, but it just wasn't the kind of thing I liked. It was too pop-princess-y for my taste.

"Say my name!" she said with a smirk. I thought it was cheesy, but everyone started to chant.

"Ember! Ember! Ember!" I thought that it was ridiculous. But then I realized that with each time, the glow that she had—which I had previously thought was from the lights—got brighter. I looked at the people and realized that their eyes were dazed—like they were in a trance.

"More! Say my name!" She laughed, and she held up—a purple Chaos Emerald! I turned to Tails and Amy, who were not under the trance either.

"Why aren't we affected?" asked Amy.

"It's the Anti-Ghost Phones. Thank goodness we never took them off," said Tails.

"I thought it was pretty stupid up to now . . . thank goodness. Okay, now who wants to hear my plan for getting that emerald?" I asked. Amy raised her hand slightly.

"We need to sneak through the crowd to get as close as possible. Tails, you handle the Thermos. Amy, I'm going to toss you the emerald after I take care of Ember. After that, we'll need to get into our next class as soon as possible and hope for the best."

"So basically, you fight and we're on clean-up duty," muttered Amy. I stared at her.

"She could kill you guys," I said.

"She could kill you," she argued.

"I'm a little more durable, though." Being a ghost had its benefits.

"But you're not invincible." Why was she so insistent on fighting?

"Neither are you." The whole time, Tails was looking at us like he was watching the ball in a tennis match.

"Guys, I think that we could just adjust Sonic's plan a little. I've got mini blasters from the lab, and Amy's got her hammer. Why can't we join in the fight as backup?" I frowned but nodded.

"Fine. Let's go." We snuck through the cheering crowd. Finally, we came close enough, and I changed into Shadow underneath a chair of one of the teachers in case people would remember being under her trance.

"Hey! Over here!" I yelled. She turned immediately. Then she growled.

"Why aren't you chanting my name?"

"Personally, I don't really like your music," I replied, climbing up to the stage. Amy and Tails followed suit.

"You'll pay for that, dipstick."

"Dipstick?"

"Let's see how you like it when I turn up the volume!" she played a harsh chord loudly and it came out as a sort of blast. I dove out of the way.

"That's more like it. I prefer rock to girly pop." I then repeatedly sent Chaos Spears at her. She dodged agilely, then spotted the Anti-Ghost Phones on Amy and Tails, who were about to jump in and help.

"Ah, earplugs. Not going to stop me, though." She dove at them, and I was too slow in making a shield.

"NO!" I yelled, fiercely trying to get at them. But Ember's back-up band held me back, and I had to watch as she fought my two best friends. I blasted the band, but nothing happened. Tails began aiming and blasting expertly at Ember, hitting her guitar and making strings break. This made her screech and fight all the harder—and she was powerful with everyone chanting her name. I had an idea.

"I'm going to stop their chanting, guys! She'll be weaker!" I said quietly into the Phones so that Ember wouldn't hear, but they'd get the message. I broke my hands free from the goon-like drummer and attempted to do something that I had seen Scourge do to Tails—I sent ectoplasm flying, covering everyone's mouths so that they couldn't say anything. The trance was still going, but it didn't help Ember. Her glow diminished back to normal. This enraged her, and I still couldn't move, but it gave my friends a chance. Tails was making more shots, and Ember had to get closer to aim at them. Amy suddenly got behind Ember while Tails kept her busy, and lifted a huge mallet—her Piko Piko hammer—and slammed it down on Ember's head. Ember fell like a rock to the floor, and Tails sucked her up into the thermos. I let the ectoplasm dissolve and people were looking around, a little dazed, but coming out of the hypnotic trance that Ember's music had put them in. Amy picked something up from behind the microphone and held it out to me. The Chaos emerald, or, as it was apparently called, _the gem of control._

Amy, Tails, and I ran out to the bathroom for an excuse to not have been in our seats as Shadow and two blurry figures had fought Ember on stage. I wrote a note to Amy in English class, which she passed on to Tails.

* * *

><p><em>You guys did great! I would be in that Thermos now if you hadn't helped . . . thanks. And sorry about keeping you out of the fight—I was scared of you getting hurt, that's all. But really, you both were awesome. Tails, you had perfect aim with that blaster—and Amy, I don't know where you keep it, but that hammer was epic!<em>

_-Sonic_

* * *

><p>"I can't do anything about the white emerald until I know about the prophecy. And the best person to go to about it has to be Mom," I explained to Amy and Tails as I headed towards the lab. It was only the day after I'd fought Ember, but I needed to know about what to do to get the last one—I would need to get it before Scourge did, because apparently it was the most powerful, therefore called the Gem of Power. I needed to know how to get it at all costs—plus, I was curious to hear what my mom had to say about Shadow the Hedgehog lately. Mom was at the computer, no doubt analyzing data.<p>

"Hey mom? Remember how you told me about that prophecy thing?" I asked. She turned to face us.

"You want to know about it, don't you?" she asked.

"It sounds kind of cool—like an adventure," said Tails, sounding innocent.

"Well, it was written by the ghost that guards the Master Emerald, the Oracle, so I would imagine so. That's an immensely powerful ghost who has strange powers. Anyway, I'd better start by explaining about the Ghost King, whose name is Black Doom. He possessed all seven Chaos Emeralds, which made him incredibly unstoppable, and he had the Master Emerald, which kept him that way. He wanted the ghosts to invade the human realm so that he would be king of everything—the 'Ultimate Ruler' as he called himself. However, none of the ghosts of that time wanted that, so they stole the Chaos Emeralds and sealed him away in a tomb, locked with the white Chaos Emerald, which can only be removed if all the other Chaos Emeralds are placed in the lock with it.

"The Master Emerald balances out the Chaos Emeralds when their power is too much for the world. In order to do that, the Master Emerald has infinite power and in certain hands can do virtually anything. It recharged Black Doom when he was in power . . . the Oracle, who guards it now, wrote a prophecy when Black Doom was sealed. He apparently wrote the full one in the tomb of the king himself, but the version that your father and I deciphered some of was on a piece of a scroll that came from the Ghost Zone. Actually, it belonged to our colleague, Bartleby. He's the one who asked for our help on it. I don't remember the exact details, and we gave our notes back to Bartleby when we gave him the scroll again, but I believe the basics are these: There will come a ghost, maybe a half ghost, who is immensely powerful. His core will be made of pure Chaos—I explained this to you, Sonic—and he will defeat the Ghost King. His title soon afterward will be the 'Ultimate Life Form'. He will protect ghosts and living people alike, and all will know him well. The last line supposedly names him, but it could only be read by the one the prophecy is about."

"That's interesting, Mom. Do you think Shadow the Hedgehog is the ghost of the prophecy?"

"I don't know, honey. I hope you're not obsessed like the rest of the town is becoming. Honestly, he might be a half-ghost, and then what? He could be anything from a gangster who made a bad deal to a little dork who got too interested with one of his experiments. Who knows what his fans think of the real him," she chuckled. I walked out with my friends.

"Okay, I don't want that white emerald . . . that would cause havoc. But we can't let anyone else get the other six, or else we're in big trouble," I said as we went up to my room.

"Where are the other six, then?" asked Amy. I opened my drawer—to find that they were gone, a note in their place. I growled under my breath.

* * *

><p><em>Thanks a lot! Get ready to bow to the new king,suckers!<em>

_-Scourge _

* * *

><p>"That's it, he's dead," I said, changing into Shadow.<p>

"Technically, he's already halfway there," pointed out Tails.

"Shut up," I muttered, punching him playfully.

* * *

><p><strong>Ta-daa! Didn't expect that one, did you? Huh? I bet you didn't! <strong>


	6. The Ultimate Life Form

**Yes! She's back from the dead!**

**Hey guys. I've been really busy. Started finals today-bet I aced Intro to Art, but English 1 H exhausted me. After Tuesday and Wednesday I will officially have at least an hour more free time throughout the summer, and will update as frequently as possible. On this one, I'm typing waaay farther than uploading, so I'll try to get a few chapters in. Plus, with the three-day weekend, I might start on a new one or two. Please enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"Whatever. There's no way that <em>he's<em> the Ultimate Life Form and there is no way he's going to use Black Doom to take over the world," I continued.

"He didn't say in the note that he was going to do that," said Amy, but she sighed when I gave her a look.

"I know, it's obvious. Can't I be a little optimistic?" I shrugged and grabbed both of their hands, imagining Scourge smirking as he held the six emeralds.

We landed in the Ghost Zone, in front of a huge stone door. It was literally as tall as a normal two-story house.

"Scourge!" I yelled. There were seven circles in the door, one of them at the top and already holding a glowing white emerald. He turned to face me, giving me a sickening smirk.

"You know, the prophecy does say something about the Ultimate Life Form being living and dead. That's you or me, and since you're just a kid, and the prophecy doesn't give the name of the person, I'd guess that I'm going to take Black Doom's power for myself and rule over the Ghost Zone and mankind. And I think I'll make you my court jester."

"You know, you always get on my nerves. The day that you beat Black Doom and take his power is the day I tell the whole world that Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog are the same person. Step away from the door."

"I'd prefer to have G. U. N. take you away after you announce your secret identity. Now, if you'll excuse me," he suddenly threw all six emeralds at the door, and like super magnets, they went in place.

"Tails! Amy! Get home!" I yelled as the door started to open. When they didn't move, paralyzed, I did the only reasonable thing: I dove on top of them and Chaos Controlled back to my room.

"Thank goodness, we made it back, I said, wiping my brow. Using Chaos Control without an emerald had tired me out, so I reverted back to Sonic.

"We can't stop him, can we?" asked Tails.

"If Scourge is the Ultimate Life Form . . . then we'd better 'get ready to bow to the new king, suckers!'" I said with a pretty accurate imitation of his voice.

"But what if he isn't?" asked Amy.

"I don't know. Then Black Doom will take over and life will be a living nightmare."

"But what if _you_ were?" she pressed. I looked at her like she was insane.

"I can't be. I'm not _that_ powerful . . . I'm just a fourteen year old hedgehog, for Chaos's sake!" I said.

"A fourteen year old hedgehog who can use Chaos powers even when he's not his ghost half," pointed out Tails.

"But he has the seven Chaos emeralds . . ."

"So? That never stopped _us_ when we fought Ember, and we're not even half-ghosts." I sighed.

"Do you think I can do it?"

"If we didn't think you could, we wouldn't have even come with you to the ghost zone," said Amy. I suddenly heard screaming outside, and I went to the window to find—that our town was floating in the Ghost Zone in front of the door that belonged to Black Doom. I went outside immediately, to see that my parents were getting people into the Ghost Shield that they'd invented. It went over the larger buildings—namely, the school, city hall, and a few supermarkets. People were under them to be safe, because ghosts couldn't even phase through them, instead, they would be shocked. Luckily, in my Sonic form, that didn't apply.

"He teleported the entire town . . ." I said in awe. I didn't even know who had, but then I stared up into the door to find Bartleby unconscious on the ground in front of it. It was wide open, and it seemed that it was a red version of the Ghost Zone on the walls—like the ocean, only gravity didn't apply.

A . . . thing . . . stood tall in the doorway, just a little taller than seven feet. I was reminded of stone gargoyles, only he had no mouth. He had black horns and three red eyes, as well as strange black skin. I was unsure where his body started and ended, because while arms did stick out of the robes—black and rough-looking, with animal-like claws—the clothing ended at odd angles, with strange pendants all over the place. In short, he was disgusting, inhuman—and terrifying.

"I am Black Doom, the one true ghost king. You weaklings shall be my slaves from now until the end of time . . . so bring me Shadow the Hedgehog. I heard from the fool who released me that he is the protector of this pathetic place . . . I shall give you three hours. If he is not here by then, then I will unleash my Black Arms, my loyal soldiers, into your town to exterminate you all." I stared, and then told Amy and Tails to hide me. They did so and I changed into Shadow immediately, running with all my might to the closest point to the door—and leapt inside.

"I am Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog. I have come to defeat you," I said. The deep voice chuckled.

"What kind of a ghost are you to think you can beat me?"

"I am a half ghost, like the one that freed you. The difference is I don't want your power."

"Interesting. Then why do you wish to fight me?"

"I don't want anyone to get hurt. That might be my obsession that I keep others of my home safe."

"Ah, an obsession. I have to say that mine is to rule, and it is my noble quest that I control all the pathetic life forms under me."

"You're not going to rule anyone. I'm going to win in this fight."

"Then let us come into my former prison, and I will see your power, Shadow the Hedgehog."

The doors turned into an image of the floor, and I saw in glowing letters on the bottom: Shadow the Hedgehog Battles Black Doom. I walked in behind Doom, and saw the floor as simple cold stone, with an open stone coffin off to the side. Black Doom was on one end of the room, his black creatures lining the walls, hissing at me as I stepped forward. We exchanged a few blows, but surprisingly, he was a little challenged by me. But I was losing, and I was looking for a way to beat him. When I landed yet another shot, he growled and sent me flying, knocking my head into the lid of the coffin. I groaned, my vision temporarily going blurry.

"Prepare to die, Shadow the Hedgehog," he said, lifting the Chaos Emeralds into the air. They glowed brightly and disappeared, and I gaped as he transformed, growing ginormous in the process. He was glowing red . . . at least ten times his original size, but floating at the same height, across from me in the room. I did not like my chances.

"What is this?" I gasped.

"The power of the Seven transforms those who use them. I am in the form which many call 'Devil Doom'. No force can oppose me in this of all forms. You have no chance." I stepped shakily into a fighting stance, and sent as many Chaos Spears as I could possibly create at once into his eyes. A wall of red energy made them fizzle out, and I stared. I didn't dare try ectoplasm, because that would be nothing.

"No power shall be above mine, mortal. No, _I _am the Ultimate Ruler. _I_ am the Supreme Being. _I_ am the last thing you will ever see. _I_ am the most powerful entity in the universe." With each statement, he sent a wave of energy at me, burning me when it passed. I knew that it would not be easy to hide the burn marks, even as Sonic when they would be slightly more healed.

I skated up to the monster with what energy I had left and raised my fist. He put a finger to my fist to push me down—after all, I was smaller than even it.

Rather than that, a huge light came, and I felt a rush of energy coming through. It was the emeralds, and I realized that their power was flowing through me. I pulled strength from it and blasted him back. He growled in annoyance, as if I was a bee that had stung him. I shot three Chaos Spears at his eyes and got direct hits. He roared and the entire place shook, the lid of the coffin falling off.

"You insolent fool!" And his glow died down, one by one, the Chaos Emeralds fell from him, taking their power with them. He was reverting back . . .

* * *

><p>The second I saw him no longer as Devil Doom, I was no longer in his tomb. Instead, I was in a bell tower of an old cathedral—but I was still somewhere in the Ghost Zone.<p>

"Where am I?" I asked immediately. I was holding the white emerald, and the other six were still in the tomb. I looked around, suspicions rising. Finally, a hooded figure appeared. He was an old green thing, really. He had an old wooden staff. And a scar ran over one of his two red eyes. Those were the only things that were really noticeable. Then he spoke.

"Shadow, you have just nearly defeated the Ghost Zone's worst ruler yet. For that I shall tell you that nothing will transpire in that room until you return, by my power." I raised an eyebrow but thanked him.

"I am called the Oracle. I trust you have been getting my letters?" I realized that _O_ apparently stood for _Oracle_.

"I have . . . but I don't understand. Why did you bring me here? Why did you send me those letters? What's the Master Emerald?" He put up his hand.

"Relax; all will be explained in due time. Now . . . I must first explain the Master Emerald. While the Seven Chaos Emeralds are powerful, their power can get out of control, and therefore the Master Emerald, which has infinite power, balances the Chaos. Normally, it is hidden away here, in my sanctuary. However . . . I have seen a dark future unfold through many visions. One where a ghost arises and destroys all of Mobius within the span of ten years. Only one ghost . . . and all that destruction takes place." I looked at him skeptically.

"Let me guess: you want me to fight and beat this ghost?" He smiled wearily.

"In a way, yes. However, little hedgehog . . . in order to do this I must send you ten years into the future, so that you can see what the ghost is and where he came from. Only then can you hope to defeat him." I nodded, ready for exactly that. He waved his bony hand and the bell from the tower lifted up—into where, I'm not sure—and floating there was a huge, green emerald.

You're probably thinking, oh, just like the Gem of Life, but no. The Chaos Emeralds were all about half the size of my head. This emerald was at least twice as tall as me. It glowed white from within, and an iridescent shine seemed to surround it. It was the Master Emerald.

"Oracle . . . what do I do now?" I asked. He told me to place my hand on it, so I did. The power that surged through me was far greater than any I'd ever witnessed—and probably ever would again. It was a thousand times higher than touching any of the emeralds had been—what was it he had said? _It has infinite power._ I suddenly realized that I was no longer in the cathedral tower, but in the middle of a street, and I was Sonic again. There was no one around. I looked all over, but barely a breeze blew and a clipping of a news article landed beside me.

* * *

><p><em>Mephiles is pure Terror. There is not any hope left . . . <em>

_The ghost that appeared ten years ago, just after the Ghost King was obliterated by Shadow the Hedgehog, has now destroyed every single life form on Mobius except those in Amity. I don't know why I'm bothering to write this. The only one that's keeping us safe is Burning Blaze, our town's resident ghost hunter after Chuck and Aleena Hedgehog were killed in the first attack. I'm glad. He'll destroy us all if she was gone . . . then again . . . who knows? He might just be saving us for last._

* * *

><p>I stared at that last sentence for what seemed like an eternity. <em>He might just be saving us for last. What kind of a monster was so cruel and powerful that there was no hope in anyone? What thing, ghost or no, was capable of destroying everything, and just taking his time because he could?<em> I didn't want to know who wrote the article, because I got the feeling that they were gone. As I turned to go in search of someone, I was shot in the back by white-hot flames.

"Ah! What in the world . . . Blaze! Hold your fire-no pun intended! Seriously! It's me: Sonic!" The fire stopped and I faced my attacker. She was older, taller, and her fur was a deeper shade of lavender. Her usual ponytail was gone, leaving the red edges of that fur hanging to one side like a weird extension of a side bang.

"Sonic . . . that's impossible. Mephiles killed you." That was all she could say.

"I got friendly with a time-traveling ghost before anything happened. As far as I remember, Shadow just went to fight Black Doom." Her expression was hopeful, even if her face was covered in grime. Then she looked completely downtrodden, as if someone had told her that everyone had died—which they probably already had.

"I'd better get you up to speed. Scourge heard that Shadow got the white emerald when he beat Black Doom. And, well, you know Scourge. He kidnapped you and your family, and Shadow went after him to save you guys. Shadow fought Scourge and accidentally hit your family, Tails, and Amy, who were shackled to the wall. You and Bartleby were unharmed up to that point as far as I know. Then . . . Scourge misfired and Shadow defended himself with a shield. The attack ricocheted off and hit them too hard. Everyone but you and Bartleby died. Then Shadow got really mad, and Scourge overshadowed Bartleby for protection. Shadow took you, and both of them got you guys free and fought. Then Bartleby hit a switch and ripped Shadow out of you—leaving whatever decency he had behind. Then Shadow took his turn and did the same to Bartleby, and somehow absorbed Scourge. He had all the Chaos emeralds . . . he gained a new power five years ago . . . that fusion . . . that abomination . . . he was Mephiles. It's sickening how he apparently killed you two slowly, laughing all the way. At least, that's how he told me in one of his 'I killed them; what chance do you have?' speeches that he made in our fights. He was always not even trying . . . he's saving us all for last . . . Sonic, he'll kill you the moment he lays eyes on you." Her voice had gone from sad but matter-of-fact to frantic and concerned. I took a moment to process her story.

_That means that Shadow absorbed Scourge and killed our living halves . . . dear God, I'm the monster that left the world with no hope. I'm the thing that is capable of destroying everything, and just taking my time because I can. I—I killed everyone, didn't I? _I had to ask Blaze about the others.

"So . . . Mom, Dad, Sonia, Amy, and Tails are dead? What about Silver? What about Knuckles and Rouge (not that they'd be much help anyway)?"

"I watched Mephiles kill them all without any remorse. It was horrible. I don't know how so much evil could exist in one ghost . . . how he could be so awful." That stung, but she didn't know that I was Shadow, so I let her trail off. She took me into the nearest building, even though I insisted that I didn't need to hide.

"You're right. He will find you eventually, but I just hope he'll find me first. Sonic, you're just a kid, but he won't bother about that. He'll kill you without even thinking about it." I shook my head.

"Oh, he'll think about it, Blaze, if he knows what's good for him. He'd rather kill you than me, and there's no way he'd kill me if he wanted to stay around." She looked at me quizzically.

"If Shadow was never ripped out of me, then he never would have fused with Scourge and become Mephiles." Her eyes widened.

"You're right! Of course! But still . . . he'll put you through a ton of pain. He likes to torture people and ghosts alike long before he destroys them." I stepped back, not because of what she said, but because of what was behind her.

"BLAZE!" I yelled. She pushed me to one side, and the deep chuckle that I heard chilled me to the bone.

"Still playing games, Blaze. You never knew when to quit . . . and who is this?" he turned towards me and I stared for one, long, frozen moment in time from behind my hiding spot. He was like Shadow, but there were a few key differences. Rather than red streaks, they were a periwinkle sort of color. Where I was solid black, he was just barely gray, a dull, dark shade. He had a pale, ivory muzzle with no mouth. The most striking thing, however, was his eyes: they were green, but not the green that mine were. They were an unearthly jade, like a Master Emerald that didn't glow.

"Just using your weak form, Mephiles? Confident that you can beat me, eh?" asked Blaze, drawing attention away from me. I was behind an old desk, so he couldn't have gotten a good look at me.

"Oh, come now, Blaze. Let me meet your friend! I only want to see him," he said. The words were like a whining child, but coming from that haunting voice it was just as if he had said "I only want to kill him". He might as well have, because that was what he wanted to do . . .

"Not a chance! Stay down!" she yelled. I shook my head so that she could tell that I refused to stand back. I didn't know how he moved, but Mephiles now had her pinned against the wall by the throat. I stood up, and her eyes widened.

"Let her go, Mephiles. Or I'll make you do it." He laughed when he heard that, but stopped when he turned to make a witty remark. His stare was hateful.

"You. I didn't think I'd ever see you again. Judging by the fact that you're here, I bet that you time-traveled. From when, I don't know. But whenever it was . . . oh, do you even know who I am?" he asked, clearly not using the Gem of Visions to see what I did and did not know. He didn't need to, because he was having too much fun.

"Yes . . . Sonic, I am _you_. In a way, at least; I left my humanity behind a long time ago. It really wasn't merging with Scourge, as you probably guessed. No, I destroyed him and absorbed his power—which gave me a bit of a new look. Then I finished you and the old annoying fool off. Oh, yes. He was enough of a fool to rip me out of you . . . so five years ago, I learned a new power. One that is far more effective than anything you could possibly know." By now, Blaze was pulling my shoulder, trying to get me out.

"Sonic, don't listen to him. We need to get out of here," she urged. Mephiles wasn't moving.

"Blaze, I never did tell you or anyone the truth. Since it's just you, me, and me here, I feel that it must be done." I shrugged Blaze's hand off of my shoulder as he said that and attempted to cut him off, but I was in Sonic form, and he was as strong as stone against my grip.

"No one ever seemed to know. I never even told my mother, father, and sister before that idiot Scourge killed them. Not that it matters, really. You see, Blaze, I was a half-ghost. I had a ghost form and a form that you said hi to in the hallways every day. Is it coming back to you? Do you remember how Sonic and Shadow were so alike in looks? Do you remember the Chao, and how after Sonic left, Shadow came right away? Do you remember the incident with Nocturne? If any of those things don't clear it up for you, let me spell it out really slowly: Shadow the Hedgehog and S-mph!" He grunted when I managed to throw him off of me, into the wall. Unfortunately, I could only manage this as Shadow normally, and Blaze was bound to notice.

"We need to get out now!" she screamed, but Mephiles sent up an oily black shield around the room.

"There's only one way out now . . ." he laughed. I grabbed Blaze's hand.

"What are you doing?" she asked, obviously doubting that I was going to get us out of there. She screamed as Mephiles started to glow and I responded to her question.

"Saving your life. _Chaos Control!_" We were thankfully no longer in the building. We were just outside. I heard a menacing roar from inside, and a yell not too unlike my own.

"_Chaos . . . Blast!"_ A blur of red chaos energy exploded right through the building, right into us, sending both Blaze and I flying over the next block of buildings before landing in the trees on the next street over. Blaze screamed and I grabbed her without thinking, then set off running full speed. Mephiles couldn't have followed me, even with Chaos Control, because he was too engrossed in the idea of a hunt. I kept moving, not stopping even for a moment when I reached unfamiliar surroundings.

"What was that? Chaos Blast? Is that his new power?" I asked. Blaze nodded mutely. Then she looked at me with an odd expression.

"How are you doing this, Sonic? Last time I checked, you were the slowest thing alive. Now you seem to be the opposite . . . and how did you get us out? I heard you yell something but couldn't make it out." I gulped.

"Frankly, you don't want to know. But I guess that since it's over, I shouldn't be keeping secrets. I'm Shadow the Hedgehog." Her eyes widened, and then she hissed at me.

"You lying, disgusting, filthy ghost! How dare you pretend to be him!" she attempted to scratch my eyes out on the last word. I held her arms against her, though.

"Blaze! I'm still Sonic! It's just . . . look. Shadow the Hedgehog . . . Sonic the Hedgehog is the same person. Same goes with Scourge and Bartleby. I'm not faking who I am. This is just half of that person. When you told me the story of how . . . he . . . came to be, I knew how the fight really went down. I'm sure you can guess too. Look at me closely. Do I look like some rotten ghost that wants you dead?" I waited for a response. She shook her head.

"Then tell me everything. I want to know." So I did. I told her all of it, from the accident to appearing in this time. All the while, I was running at top speed, heading through an empty wasteland faster than the speed of sound.

Suddenly, there was a roar coming from behind us. I tried to move faster, but I couldn't if I tried. It was Mephiles, I was sure—until I looked. It wasn't the Chaos Blast. It was a bunch of ghosts after us, none of them friendly, led by Ember. They all looked slightly older than what I remembered.

"Of course! The Oracle probably sent him forward to teach him a lesson," said the dragon, who now was missing a few scales. I screeched to a halt, setting Blaze down. I needed to face them before I could think of outrunning Mephiles.

"I'll teach him a lesson, all right. He's worse than Black Doom ever was! And in this time, he can't be stopped, because he goes and recharges himself by using the Master Emerald. If we destroyed his younger self, though, we wouldn't be in this mess . . ." said Ember, who was kind of taller and strumming her guitar thoughtfully. I backed up.

"Blaze, get out of here," I said. She nodded and ran to hide behind a half-demolished building nearby, but was still close enough to see. I rubbed my shoulder, which was still a little burned from the Chaos Blast's energy. I turned into Shadow and winced at the fact that it was not healing any faster.

"You're puny enough that I could defeat you myself!" proclaimed Eggman, whose mustache was now snow white. All the others rolled their eyes, but readied whatever weaponry they had.

"Now, guys, I'm not evil yet . . . can't I just leave and make sure this never happens?"

"That's not up to you, hedgehog," said Nocturne, eyes blazing green. They all advanced, and then they attacked.

Whatever I used to describe my pain in the portal, apply to this, except add on the amount of pain that it would take if you were being run over with a steamroller, only with a little more screaming. I did the only thing I could do, and fought back with the only two words that came to me in desperation. It's not like I expected it to actually work.

"_Chaos . . . Blast!" _I felt white-hot all of a sudden, and whatever pain I was feeling was momentarily replaced by a huge rush of newfound energy that simply ran right through me, reviving me as it expanded and then exploded out in the form that I'd never really seen before just that day. They all screamed and I looked at them—they were immensely weaker. The dragon hissed and flew away in a haphazard way. The others left in the same fashion. I gulped and looked down at my feet, changing back into Sonic. I was too weak to stay as Shadow.

"So that's what it's like. I can't . . . maybe they're right. Maybe I should be destroyed . . . to keep this from happening . . ." I clenched my fists so hard that it hurt.

"Sonic, you can't be destroyed . . . You're a hero . . . you're my only friend. Rouge never was all that great," she admitted. I raised my eyebrows.

"What about Silver?" This just confused her.

"What about him?"

"He was in love with you. I don't mean like a little crush; that ended in seventh grade. He loved you, Blaze." Her eyes widened.

"So that's why . . . oh, Sonic . . . he died to save me . . . I can't believe it . . ." tears formed in her eyes. Suddenly, an evil laugh echoed through the air.

"Ha! You can't outrun the Ultimate Life Form, you know . . . especially if he has reached perfection. I have all the power in the world! I am immortal! I am invincible!" He chuckled. I looked to find a black, oily kind of slime ooze from the ground. It formed into my ultimate enemy: myself, Mephiles.

"I hardly care what happens to you, Blaze. But I must exist. Perhaps I can speed up the process . . . make him watch your destruction . . ." I stepped in front of her. He just laughed.

"You know full well that stepping in front of someone does nothing when you're battling a being that can use Chaos Control."

"Leave her alone, Mephiles."

"I don't think so. I can't wait to hear you scream . . ." Suddenly, a greenish light erupted around us, and Mephiles lunged. I stepped forward to shove him back, and Blaze seemed to disappear.

I was suddenly in the main square of town, and we were in my time.

"The Oracle works in strange ways . . . I will remind myself to destroy him when I return," he said. It was pitch black dark, except for the street lights. The only ones present were Mephiles, my parents on patrol, Sonia, Amy, and Tails, who had just been arguing about looking for me, as I found out later. Obviously, Amy and Tails already knew where I was going to be.

"Sonic!" yelled Amy, oblivious to Mephiles. I shook my head.

"Stay back, Ames! This guy isn't going to consider mercy!" I yelled, pointing at him. Her eyes widened. Mom and Dad pointed their guns at him. He laughed.

"You couldn't defeat me if you tried. Do you want to know about who I am, and why, if you hit me, you wouldn't affect me whatsoever?" They balked in fear when he grabbed me by the scruff of my neck.

"No, it wouldn't affect me . . . unless you hit your son, that is. I am from a distant future of ten years, where nearly all people on the planet are dead. Ah, yes, I destroyed this town, and many that were larger. You see, I was once a half ghost, until I witnessed the death of my parents and friends, partially caused by myself. Then my enemy ripped my ghost half out of me, and I destroyed him as well as my living half. Oh, yes . . . I was once Shadow the Hedgehog." They gasped at this, and my parents' expressions hardened.

"I knew he was evil!" exclaimed Dad. Mephiles chuckled.

"I wasn't until they died . . . _Dad._" This is when I broke free.

"I will _never_ become you!"

"Then why do I still exist? Your future is set, so why bother trying to change it?" I shook my head, and leapt at him. My parents and Sonia gasped, and Tails and Amy looked worried.

"Face it, Sonic. You cannot defeat the Ultimate Enemy when he is _you._" My parents were dumbstruck, and Sonia probably fainted at that point. I snarled.

"I can and I will! Aren't you forgetting that I'm supposed to be _your _Ultimate Enemy, too?" He laughed at the last sentence, but it was long before he responded to that, because then my parents began to ask questions as I defended them.

"Sonic! What's going on?" was the first thing that my mom asked.

"This is Mephiles. He is an evil version of Shadow the Hedgehog from the future! He'll do anything to kill you guys so that he will exist!" I yelled as I dodged a blow and swung my leg at the side of his head.

"Why would our deaths cause his creation? Didn't he say that he was Shadow? That he was a half-ghost?" said Dad.

"I also called you Dad," Mephiles interrupted. It took a couple of seconds for them to realize what that meant. I groaned and turned into Shadow, having no real choice in the matter but doing so because I would have been killed—or worse, knocked out, because then he could still come into existence—and that made Sonia, who had just recovered, gape so wide that her chin was probably touching the ground.

"Why do you still fight? What's the use?" he prodded, lazily flicking me into the ground. I blasted him with at least twenty Chaos Spears, yet he was barely phased at all. It was draining me immensely, and I asked myself, why did I fight? What was the use? I knew the answer before he even asked, in a way. I don't break promises.

"I promised someone that I would protect people who can't protect themselves. I intend to keep that promise."

"You promised to a little human girl named Maria, I remember. Did you know that I didn't even have to kill her? She was dying of cancer when you met her, and she knew it. She got to spend about a few months with her family before she died. Oh, yes, it was for nothing. Why keep a promise to a dead girl?" That broke me in two. Maria was dead. I had barely known her, but something about her ran deep within me . . . maybe it was how she seemed to know that I'd freed her, or maybe it was her request of me. Not a day went by when I didn't hope that she was happy with her family.

"At least she didn't die in a tank of pond water! I gave her a chance to live how she could! If that's all I gave her, a month of a life with her family, then so be it! But it doesn't change anything. I didn't just promise her that. I promised myself when this whole thing started that I wouldn't let anyone get hurt. And I won't!" He laughed at this.

"You promised. How lovely." I growled.

"YES! I! PROMISED! _**CHAOS BLAST**__!_" I everything I had left into that blast. His eyes widened when he saw that I wasn't faking. The red glow blew out from me, engulfing him and a few nearby trees—nearing my family. All I could see was his sinister grin as-

Suddenly, everything froze. I flinched, and realized that I was suddenly Sonic again. The Oracle appeared in front of me.

"Hello, Sonic. I believe your family is safe . . . just barely. I was just in time, wasn't I? I always am, you know." I squinted at him.

"You're not just the ghost that guards the Master Emerald, are you?" He nodded.

"You're the ghost of Time, right?" How else would he know the future and be able to stop everything?

"Precisely," he replied.

"What happens now?" I asked. He chuckled.

"My, my, aren't we in a hurry? To answer your question, I will capture the abomination and take him outside of time in his timeline's Thermos. All will be well here, on a few conditions." I nodded eagerly, not wanting anything to change.

"In order for you to travel through time twice, the Master Emerald shattered into thirteen pieces. In order for the changes to remain as they are, you must collect these thirteen pieces before the year is over. Otherwise, it will revert back to the future which you have just altered. Do you accept the challenge?"

"Anything to avoid becoming _him._ Yes, I do."

"Then I will send you back to the white Chaos Emerald, and only you and few others will remember this. They will also remember this conversation as if they had watched it."

"Amy and Tails, then?" He looked at my friends, then for a split second at Sonia, and nodded.

"Of course." He smiled, snapped his fingers, and suddenly I was standing in Black Doom's tomb again, the Chaos Emeralds scattered across the floor.

I looked around, seeing the red undulating walls, and suddenly noticing a huge inscription in the side of the coffin:

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><p><em>The evil ruler called Black Doom<em>

_Is of great power_

_He is inferior only to_

_The hero of the Ghost King's final hour_

_It shall be he who pure Chaos wields_

_The seven Emeralds he shall possess_

_And his greatest need is to shield _

_From harm, all the rest_

_So "Ultimate Life Form" is the name_

_He will bear once his Ultimate Enemy passed_

_And living and dead, he is the same_

_Being and his reign shall last_

_All ages will hail his glorious deeds_

_And all, his name shall know_

_Only he the last line may read:_

_All hail Shadow!_

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><p>I breathed heavily at this, reading the prophecy that my parents must have studied for hours trying to interpret. Yet now I knew every word of it and every detail. I was the Ultimate Life Form. I had a core of pure Chaos. I defeated Mephiles, collected the seven Chaos Emeralds, and now had to piece together the Master Emerald to avoid Mephiles returning. <em>Here we go again.<em> But first, I had to defeat Black Doom once and for all. He was lying behind the coffin, desperately reaching for the nearest emerald. I skated around the room quickly, grabbing each emerald as I went. When I had them all, I raised my hands at my sides. They started to float in a circle around me, spinning quickly. I realized that I was floating off of the floor, and that they were spinning closer and closer. Suddenly they were gone and their glow was still there—now, it was _me _glowing, and I looked down to find that where I was normally black, I had turned a light gold.

"I guess I'm 'Super Shadow' now. Sorry, Doom, but you aren't going to rule. You're not the Ultimate; I am. _I am the Ultimate Life Form._ And I am more powerful than you will ever be, because I can read that last line of the prophecy: 'All Hail Shadow'. Now . . . _CHAOS BLAST!_" I let the energy build to insane and impossible heights that must have come with the Super form before letting it out. The entire place went up in flames, and though they licked at me, the glow made me impervious to it. I turned to the limp form of Doom and lifted him up by raising my hand, somehow putting him back into the coffin without touching him. I powered down and skated into town as fast as I could. Then I used the emeralds to send it back where it belonged, and passed out. I found out later that Amy and Tails dragged me back to my house, putting me to bed.

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><p><strong>Well, that certainly was . . . interesting. I guess I sort of mixed two special episodes into one, huh? You know, the one with Pariah and also the one with Dark Dan? Thought it would be pretty cool. The next chapter might be a bit boring, but Sonic does get stuff done, and for the sake of my readers, I did decide to add in Dani Phantom in my own special way. Read on, peoples!<strong>

**-*-*-F L U T E - C H I C K-*-*-**


	7. Family Time

**Hey, people. I think I might actually get a few chapters of this in today, if possible. In general, I'll be updating a bit more frequently with my stories because school's out. **

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><p>Because of the whole thing with Mephiles, I had decided that I would tell my family the truth. If they knew, they might be more likely to keep themselves safe in battle rather than look for me. Sonia would be the first because she actually didn't hate Shadow.<p>

Amy, Tails, and I formulated a kind of plan to tell her. Amy and Tails would walk in with me as Shadow while Sonia was studying, and we would make her feel insane—hey, I've got to have a little fun with this, huh?—because we would insist that I was Sonic and she would say that I'm Shadow, then I would explain that she wasn't really wrong, because I was both. It didn't really work as planned when we did it the following Friday night.

I made sure that my parents were going to be out of the house for a long time, and I walked into the kitchen as Shadow, arguing with Tails about how he beat me on a video game. It wasn't really an act—honestly, I didn't know how he beat me.

Sonia glanced at me, then kept reading her book. We sat down, and I greeted her.

"Hey, Sonia." She didn't seem to have noticed, but when she set it down and looked me in the eye, she answered.

"Hey, Sonic." I stared at her, dumbfounded.

"How did you know?" was all I could say.

"In case you're referring to the fact that I know about Sonic and Shadow being the same person, I've known since the Oracle let me remember your fight with Mephiles—after which I remembered the whole incident with Nocturne. I decided to wait for you to try to tell me before saying anything." I just stared and turned back into Sonic.

"Oh, by the way, I found this in the road in case you were looking for it." She handed me what anyone else would have thought was a broken piece of glass that was very pretty, but I knew just by touching it that it was a piece of the Master Emerald.

"Thanks, Sonia. One piece down, twelve to go," I said. She nodded.

"I thought so. Good luck with the others." I gave her a thumbs-up and grinned. One less person that I had to keep my secrets from. Now to rat out Bartleby . . .

"Scourge is a half-ghost too. He's Bartleby." She gaped.

"He had the nerve to come crawling back to me last night! Now I have to break up with him again for being a lunatic! Thanks, little brother. I would have been dating him again."

"No problem. Anything to help, Sonia. Alright, who should I talk to next, Mom or Dad?" I asked her.

"Mom, definitely. She's a little saner about the whole Shadow the Hedgehog thing, in my opinion."

I stayed as Sonic, and hung out with Tails and Amy in the living room as we waited for my parents to get home. Mom and Dad both came in, and I got the impression that Dad was going to visit his cousin for the night in the next town over. Apparently, that cousin of his needed help taking care of the kids while they did an important speech for their job. I thought nothing of it, but was glad that it got Dad out of the house for the night. Mom whispered to me as he grabbed his stuff:

"He needs a break. He's been working nonstop ever since we had problems with that Shadow character—he's bent on capturing that ghost and finding out more about him—Shadow the Hedgehog I mean." I did not comment on that, but was glad that Mom was intent on keeping Dad out for his own good.

I asked her about patrol that night and she told me not to worry—she was going to stay in the park most of the time. Everything was going well so far. I turned into Shadow in my bedroom and skated down the road to the park as discreetly as possible. With my luck, I beat Mom there, and I leaned on the edge of a fence by the duck pond. It was empty this time though, and it was so still that the moon reflected like a photograph on the water. I heard my mom walk stealthily behind me, trying to give me a surprise.

"I know you're there, you know. I can hear your footsteps." I turned to face her, and she leaned on one foot, her net blaster hanging on her belt to one side.

"Wow. Even I couldn't hear them, and I've got a pretty good sense of hearing, being a mother." She wasn't lowering her guard; I was still a danger, a threat to her.

"Relax. I'm about as likely to hurt you as I am to see Ember and the Box Ghost marry—ugh." I shuddered at the thought. She didn't seem amused.

"Shadow. I want to know more about you, and where you come from. My husband is out of town—he's the one who's all for putting you in a cage and shocking you every time you don't answer a question."

"And you?"

"I want to just sit down and talk. That's it."

"Well then, we can go to the nearest park bench and talk all you want. I don't mind." It was a little odd talking to my mom as Shadow. She didn't act like my mom around me, and I didn't really act like Sonic. I was supposed to be Shadow, the mysterious half-ghost hedgehog—therefore I acted that way. And she was more a hunter and scientist than a mother at this point.

"You're a half-ghost, right?" she asked right away.

"Yes, I am. Before you ask, I might tell you my other half's name if I decide that I trust you."

"Alright, then. When did you become a half-ghost?"

"I think it was the beginning of June, maybe the end of May."

"What year?"

"This year." Her face was mildly surprised.

"You're really one of a kind. Not a single ghost, or half ghost for that matter, could come to half your power level within four years, much less four months. Plus, you beat Black Doom. You collected the Chaos Emeralds. What's next?" I sighed.

"I made a deal with the Ghost of Time. To prevent a horrible future from happening, I have to collect the thirteen pieces of the shattered Master Emerald before the year is over. I also have high school and my grades to worry about." She looked interested now.

"You go to high school? Where? What grade?"

"Emerald High. I'm a freshman."

"You might be in my son's classes, then. His name's Sonic."

"I think I do have a Sonic in my class . . . blue hedgehog, green eyes, wears red sneakers and plain white gloves every day?" She nodded. I crossed my arms, looking off into the distance.

"Do you have any family worth talking about?" she pressed.

"A mom, a dad, and a sister. My mom and dad are scientists. Sometimes, I think they'd know I was Shadow if they took two seconds away from watching anomalies like myself. Dad's really funny, and Mom is the best . . . and then there's my sister. She's alright most of the time. Occasionally, she can get on my nerves. She's really into her schoolwork."

"Sounds like you're lonely a lot of the time, if they don't spend much time with you."

"Not really. My sister just recently found out my secret, and my two closest friends know—they were there when it first happened. I wouldn't be here without them. In fact, I'd be at home playing videogames, and Black Doom and a lot of other ghosts basically never would have appeared. Of course, your ghost portal wouldn't be working either." I stared at her pointedly.

"You mean . . . when it worked . . . you became Shadow?"

"I did, and when I saw my reflection in one of your computer screens, it was downright terrifying. Of course, after that, my friends helped me through. If they hadn't stayed by my side . . . I would be full ghost by now. I couldn't ask for anyone else."

"Why do you fight to protect the town?"

"I don't know. I guess it has to do with a promise I made a while ago. Back when it started, I stopped my friend from going in the portal, and I swore to myself that no matter what, I wouldn't let anyone get hurt. I met a little girl later on and made a promise to her that I would protect people who can't protect themselves. It's hard to do it, but I don't break promises—plus it might be my ghostly obsession that I can't seem to identify otherwise."

"I can't believe . . . you're just my son's age . . . and you've been through so much. I actually thought, as I saw you, I wanted to catch you so I could make my husband and my family safe—but now I see that putting you in a cage in our lab would do the opposite. Wait . . . our lab . . . how did you get into our lab in the first place?" her tone was slightly accusing. I looked down, but answered.

"I walked in right through the door. I have access after all."

"Only my family has access—oh, no . . ." she looked into my eyes, brow furrowing as if looking for the green that she normally saw there rather than the blood red.

"It's me, Mom. I'm Sonic," I whispered.

"I can't believe it . . ." she said, pushing back her lavender hair. I half-smiled.

"You have no idea. Time travelling, fighting ghosts, and having a secret identity is not something that you'd expect to end up doing in high school." She shook her head in disbelief.

"It makes sense . . . how you're always disappearing . . . but I don't understand . . . your father and I did this to you, didn't we?"

"Mom, it's fine. I like being who I am. Not just for the power—I want to protect people. You have no idea how long I've wanted to tell you."

"Honey . . . let's head home. I'm sure that the town is safe for one night without you."

"I'm sure. I can get us there a lot faster, though. Grab my hand." She did, and I concentrated on our kitchen.

"_Chaos Control!"_

One flash of light and a few minutes later, we were sipping hot chocolate in the living room.

"You know, I really think you could get Dad to like me a little more before I tell him," I pointed out.

"I'll do my best to talk up Shadow the Hedgehog, but I can't make promises about his attitude, honey."

"I'll take it. Meanwhile, I'll work on finding the pieces of the Master Emerald."

"That's right. What future are you trying to prevent?"

"One where I turn evil and destroy basically everything on the planet. But it's not a problem. I can handle it—with help, of course."

"No problem," she said, putting down her mug. I went to do the dishes and saw something sparkling at the bottom of the sink. I pulled it up and lo and behold, the second piece was there. _At this rate, I'll have them all in a week . . . though I probably just jinxed myself. _

On October 11th, I felt the wrath of Scourge. Dad and I had been gone fishing—his idea, not mine—and Scourge had shown up.

"Hola, amigos! Ready to play some games?" I growled when he smirked.

"A ghost . . . Scourge the Hedgehog, too. I'm going to get him," muttered my dad. I shook my head.

"Dad, he's Shadow's archenemy. There's no way you can catch him!" That snapped him to attention and he got out one of his ghost rays that could knock the smaller ones like Eggman out.

"You'll miss me no matter how hard you try, Chuck. Besides, I hardly care about you. It's your son I want to torture . . . oh, yes. He revealed me to someone, and I'd like to return the favor. Sonic, you'll be surprised about this one. I'm going to put you in a cage shackled together at the ankle. Good luck getting out!" he laughed. Before I could react, he threw a sleeping gas canister at us, and I blacked out.

When I woke up, my dad was indeed shackled to me, and we were in a cage with an electric barrier at the bars. I shook my dad awake, and he sat bolt upright.

"That filthy rotten ghost . . ." he muttered.

"Not all ghosts are bad, Dad," I tried to explain. He looked at our shackles and found no lock. I knew that the only way to get them off would be to phase out of them—but I couldn't do that with my dad around.

"I hate having to play his game, but it looks like we have no choice," I said.

"Huh?" he looked confused, but I just continued. He wanted me to reveal myself to Dad? So be it.

"You know, that guy gets on my nerves," I complained. My dad frowned. He looked around, seeing the lab easily through the bars, but unable to touch them.

"That's just torture . . . showing us the outside but not letting us out . . ." I shook my head.

"No. It's worse. He's showing us the outside and baiting me to get us out."

"Baiting you?"

"Uh . . . pretend I never said that." He shook his head this time.

"Sonic, you've been acting a little off ever since he showed up—more off than usual. I don't know what you're going through, but I'm your father and I love you. If there's something you need to tell me, I suggest you do so." I looked into his eyes, which were just like mine, and sighed.

"Alright, Dad. I know a way to get us out right here and now. But I have to show you something about myself that I never have before . . . and tell you a secret that I'm not sure you want to hear."

"Son, you can trust me! I swear, whatever it is, I'll accept you."

"You can't make that promise until you know the secret, Dad. But it's a nice sentiment," I said wearily. First, I phased the shackles off of both of us, because they were beginning to chafe. He didn't notice. Then, I changed into Shadow. This, he did notice.

"What the—Shadow the Hedgehog! Where's my son!" he yelled, misunderstanding. I pulled him out of the cage without trouble.

"Dad, calm down. I'm right here," I said, exasperated. He stopped glaring at me for a moment. But it wasn't because he understood what I meant. Scourge was right behind me.

"Yeah, I never liked this idea all that much either. But how's about we play a little more!" he said, blasting over my shoulder. I threw up a shield as fast as I could, just barely protecting Dad from a blast.

"Run, Dad! Get out of here!" I yelled over my shoulder. He shook his head, though.

"I'm not staying out of this fight." I threw him the Chaos Thermos.

"Then when he's weakened, suck him into that."

"How did you get your hands on this? And why do you trust me with it? I could suck you in instead."

"I thought I made it clear, Dad."

"Quit calling me your father. Sonic's my son, and you impersonated him." I sighed, exasperated.

"I don't know why it's so hard for you to see that Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog are the same person. I _am_ a half ghost. Why can't you accept that?" He blinked. But I didn't have time to take in his reaction.

"You know, Scourge, I ought to tell him who you are. I was planning on telling him anyway, you know. You just sped up the process."

"Oh, that just opens up more opportunities for revenge. I thought you'd detest your secret being blown, but since you were going to tell him anyway . . . the things I could do are countless."

"Really, I don't know what my sister saw in you. Of course, you were hiding your true colors even then."

"And that's what brought her to me. She wanted someone that was reserved, and personally, I found her hot. Very, very hot."

"That sounds sick coming from your mouth." He grinned as if I'd told him that his shades made him look awesome.

I finally actually fought him, and was careful not to let him draw on the Gem of Strength that I had on me—I left the others with Amy and Tails.

"Dad! Now!" I yelled, and he opened the Thermos and sucked Scourge in. Capping it, he frowned.

"I was aiming for you. But since it got him, I guess we have to get out of here together." I sighed, thinking that he really _was_ thick in the head when it came to his thoughts on ghosts. But I put up with it and I Chaos Controlled us back home.

"I will ask one more time: where is my son?" he demanded in the middle of the living room.

"I'm right here, Dad!" I answered. He shook his head.

"If you're Sonic, then prove it." I changed back.

"You could just be putting up an illusion, for all I know."

"Fine, then. Ask me anything." I wanted to get it over with.

"What is Sonic's favorite food?"

"I love chili dogs. Too easy."

"Why does Sonic wear the same gloves every day?"

"You gave these to me for my tenth birthday. I've been wearing them ever since, and I'm starting to wonder if I even _can_ take them off anymore. What else?" He squinted at me, as if trying to see through whatever illusion he thought I was putting up.

"Then how did you become a half ghost?" I sighed, then told him the entire story. When I said the part about protecting Amy, he seemed to believe me.

"Sonic, my boy, you're a hero! Sorry for not believing you there for a while. Can't be too careful with most ghosts."

"I agree." I got a note that night.

* * *

><p><em>Dear Sonic, <em>

_I may have forgotten to mention a few things at our last encounter. You see, a series of events must occur in order for the Master Emerald to come back together again. Once you have collected three pieces, a creature will awaken that you must defeat before continuing. It is neither living nor dead, but a power-hungry beast made of living negative Chaos. When they number five in your possession, your loyalty of heart will be tested by a trial of fire. When seven pieces are collected, you must confess to your true love how you feel in order to remove all dark lies from your heart. Finally, when all the pieces are assembled, only an act of great sacrifice will make it whole once more. Your fate is at stake. _

_No pressure! Enjoy Halloween!_

_-O_

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><p>Was he serious? No pressure? That only meant more pressure when someone said that! <em>Oh, you might turn evil and destroy the world if you don't do this, but no pressure or anything, you can do it. <em>That was basically what he said, anyway. When I got my hands on him, he would be sorry . . . oh yeah, plus I had to watch out for Scourge and his "revenge."

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><p><strong>Like? Love? Never want to read another story of mine again? . . . yeah, you know the drill. Please review and rate-thanks!<strong>


	8. Halloween Tricks

**I'm baa-aaack! Please enjoy this installment of Sonic Halfa Chronicles!**

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><p>I was going to the annual Halloween Bash with Amy and Tails for the first time. Up to eighth grade, we either trick-or-treated together or passed out candy from one of our houses. Amy had taken up the obligation of making our costumes, so I had no idea in my mind what she was getting me to dress as. She managed to get me to agree to close my eyes the entire time she was working on me, dying and styling my quills while also changing my gloves and shoes.<p>

"Can I see it yet?" I complained.

"No, not yet. I'm almost done." I felt a wet brush go across my brows. A plastic-like smell invaded my nose, so that meant one thing . . .

"Face paint?"

"Yep. Now do you want to be unrecognizable, or do you want it to be obvious you're in costume?"

"Make it slightly obvious. Whatever it is, I don't really want to look like it completely. So at least I'm me."

"Well, it would have been a lot easier if we just did something else if you wanted it to be obvious, but I got it."

"Can I at least see your costume?"

"Not until I put it on. You aren't allowed to see anything until Tails and I have our costumes, too." I grumbled and crossed my arms, and she laughed a little harder than what I thought was necessary. When I asked, she said it was appropriate for my costume. Once she was done, she left me in the room—her guest room, where there was no reflective surface whatsoever—for fifteen minutes. I wanted to know the costume but trusted her judgment enough not to look. Finally, I heard the door open and looked.

Amy was dressed head to toe in a vampire queen outfit. It was black with red ribbons swirling all over it. She had red face paint slightly "dripping" from the corner of her mouth, and she was wearing fake fangs. Tails was dressed as a mad scientist, which suited him.

"Okay, what am I dressed as?" I asked. Amy giggled, and Tails rolled his eyes. They both dragged me to the bathroom to show me.

Amy had dressed me as Shadow the Hedgehog.

All except for the eyes, the skin tone, and the lack of glowing, I looked just like my counterpart. Amy had done well with the styling and all that.

"Wow . . . if you'd done a different skin tone and given me contacts, no one would really guess it was a costume—that's what you meant earlier, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Let's go!" And we were off to the Halloween Bash.

When we showed up, it was crowded. A lot of the people who didn't like to dance were sitting on the bleachers, and the popular group was hanging around the food tables.

"Well, you hungry?" asked Amy.

"Not really . . . people are staring at me," I said. And they were.

"It's because of your costume. A lot of people dressed as Shadow this year, but not many could pull it off as well." She indicated Knuckles, who had used a ton of black and had crooked streaks on his spikes, which he left to hang like they normally did. His gloves and shoes were both definitely from a costume store. Rouge, hanging on his arm, was dressed as Ember in a similar fashion.

"Let's look for Blaze and Silver. They said they'd meet us here," said Amy, pulling me along.

I spotted them first. Blaze was sitting at a table with a white gown on. Sparkly flower clips were in her hair and Silver was all in black with a cape and a white half-mask. They were dressed as the Phantom of the Opera and Christine.

"Blaze!" yelled Amy. They both turned to see us, and waved us over.

"Impressive Shadow costume, Sonic," said Silver.

"Thanks! I like your costumes, too!"

"Thanks. Hey, did you see Knuckles and Rouge? Gag!" said Blaze.

"I agree. Did they come up with the idea of Shadow and Ember being together?"

"Yeah. I really hope this dance doesn't stay so boring, though. That would be pathetic."

"I could make it interesting . . ." I grinned devilishly. They laughed.

"What kind of interesting are you thinking of?" asked Blaze, curious.

"Well, I actually know a ghost or two . . . calling one in might be interesting . . ."

"Somehow, I don't think it works that way."

"Well, I could at least get Shadow. He's always around."

"You could?"

"He's the easiest to find for me. Hm . . . hey Tails, could I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure." We went to a more deserted corner of the gym.

"I think that the real Shadow the Hedgehog should make an appearance . . . but I need a fake Sonic for alibi. Do you mind?"

"Nah, not at all. I'd rather be a fake you as a fake Shadow than real me playing a fake scientist," he said.

"Huh? That's a lot of fakers **(got the SA2 reference?) **. . . yes or no?"

"Sure, I'll do it," laughed Tails. I looked around, took out the Gem of Form, turned invisible, and changed Tails to look like me in a Shadow costume.

"Test your voice," I said. He did, and he sounded like me, too.

"This is awesome! Now could you turn visible?"

"Just let me change into Shadow first." I did, then turned visible. It was weird to look at myself, not in a mirror.

"Okay, now let's see what Blaze and Silver have to say," I said. We both walked back to them, and Silver gaped.

"You weren't kidding, Sonic! Hi, Shadow! I'm Silver."

"I know. I'm in your class, actually . . . nice to see you again. Unlike the costumes I see, I am _not_ in love with Ember," I said, looking over at Rouge and Knuckles. Then I rolled my eyes.

"We just had that conversation, actually," said Blaze.

"Where did Tails go?"

"He couldn't stay . . . think he said something about going to his aunt's house . . . I don't know," said Tails. Amy just looked between us, trying to figure out how we'd pulled it off. I was mentally laughing, because we'd done it in plain sight and no one had noticed at all.

"Should I make myself known?" I asked mildly, waiting for someone to scream "Oh my god it's Shadow!" at any moment.

"Why don't you get onstage and sing something when the machine breaks down—don't worry, I can make it break down."

"I haven't sung in front of anyone once in my life."

"Good time to find out. People won't think you're the real Shadow unless you make it obvious," said Amy.

"Good point. I'll do it." I went up onstage and people turned, noticing that the music had stopped (courtesy of Silver).

"Hello, everyone. My name is Shadow the Hedgehog." Girls squealed and the general population cheered.

"I want to perform a little song for you tonight—I noticed that the music wasn't working and went to change into this form immediately. The song I'm going to sing for you has a little story behind it, you see. When I first began collecting the Chaos Emeralds, I kept hearing about this prophecy . . . about the defeat of Black Doom, the rise of the Ultimate Life Form, and it happened not to mention any names until the last line. No one knew what the last line was, because only the original written copy, in Black Doom's tomb, was said to have it. I happened to read the full prophecy when I fought Black Doom, and this song tells what the last line is, so all of you know who has become the Ultimate Life Form." I Chaos Controlled to my bedroom, grabbed my guitar that I hid in my closet, and teleported back in a flash. Anyone in the gym would have guessed that I had made the guitar appear in one flash, I'd been so fast.

I looked out into the crowd and noticed a few familiar faces. There was Amy, Blaze, and Silver, with Tails pretending to be me, in the back corner. There was Knuckles and Rouge just about on the edge of the stage, and there was Sonia somewhere in the middle, dressed as Cleopatra. I also saw my parents—two of the volunteer chaperones—standing in the back, watching expectantly, waiting to hear what I saw. Then I started to play.

"_All hail Shadow!/ Heroes rise again!/ Obliterating everything that's not your friend!/ Nothing can stop you now,/ no ghost can bring you down,/ when there's nothing left to lose, you win!_

_ "Bow your heads low, all hail Shadow!/ Bow your heads low, all hail Shadow!_

_ "Suffer long, and it will set you free/ only through trial do we find the strength we need!/ It's never over, just another day/ of hope and tragedies and everything that comes our way!/ determination of the strong!/ found the meaning that you've searched for so long!_

"_All hail Shadow!/ Heroes rise again!/ Obliterating everything that's not your friend!/ Nothing can stop you now,/ no ghost can bring you down,/ when there's nothing left to lose, you win!_

_ "Bow your heads low, all hail Shadow!/ Bow your heads low, all hail Shadow!_

_ "Somewhere in chaos we all find ourselves/ this destruction is the only tale we tell/ white is black and black is white/ right is wrong and wrong is right/ nothing ever fills this hole inside your heart/ determination of the strong!/ found the meaning that you've searched for so long!_

"_All hail Shadow!/ Heroes rise again!/ Obliterating everything that's not your friend!/ Nothing can stop you now,/ no ghost can bring you down,/ when there's nothing left to lose, you win!"_

As I stopped for a guitar solo, I actually looked out into the crowd, and saw that absolutely everyone was screaming, dancing, and basically acting like this was a real concert that they paid tickets for. That was definitely new for me.

"_All hail Shadow!/ Heroes rise again!/ Obliterating everything that's not your friend!/ Nothing can stop you now,/ no ghost can bring you down,/ when there's nothing left to lose, you win!_

_ "Bow your heads low, all hail Shadow!/ Bow your heads low, all hail SHADOW!"_

I was done, and walked off the stage, flicking the switch on the player as I passed it to turn it back on. But no one started dancing to the Lady Gaga song at all. All eyes were still on me. Then the screaming and cheering started again, and it was easy to hear the girls that were now swarming me.

"Shadow? Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Can I have your autograph?"

"Shadow, you're amazing!"

People said these kinds of things as I passed them, and I obliged with the autographs. I didn't blow kisses or stop to take pictures on someone's phone or anything like that though.

"Shadow?" asked Mr. Vector.

"Yes?"

"Would you mind handing out the award for best costume? It would be an honor, for the winner, I'm sure," he said. I'd forgotten about the costume contest. People voted on their favorite costumes, and the top three were looked at by the teachers and picked. Usually, Mr. Vector announced the winner and shook their hand when they got their prize. I nodded kind of hoping that if it was Knuckles by some miracle he would fall off of the stage. I took the envelope and teleported back onto the stage.

"The winner of the costume contest is . . ." I opened the envelope and couldn't get my mouth to work for a little bit. Then, finally, I managed to say it. It's weird to announce your own name.

"Sonic the Hedgehog." Tails looked stunned and walked up to the stage.

"You didn't fake it, did you?" he asked when he came up to receive the gift basket.

"I only took so long to say the name because I was so surprised. You and Amy can share it; she's the one who made it, and ultimately I hardly wore it all night."

"We'll all share it," he said. Then he took it, and I said, just to spite a few people:

"See you after the party, Sonic." Some people gasped, and I think Rouge or Knuckles fainted, because there was a bit of a crowd around them. I would bet it was Knuckles. I let Tails walk out of sight and changed him back into himself. But before I could do anything else, there was more screaming, but not the rock concert kind. Guess who?

"Loved the performance, Shadow. Mind if I show off a few of my moves?" asked Scourge, grinning arrogantly. Everyone was suddenly silent, so you could hear only his clapping. I growled, and people began to scream and run for the sides of the gym. It left a wide berth for Scourge to step forward.

"Good. I like an audience," he grinned.

"You know, I'm really getting tired of you," I said.

"Everyone else seems to enjoy the party, Shadow. Why don't you smile and have some fun for once?" he goaded. I frowned.

"What are you doing here, Scourge? I'm not going to play your game," I said. He chuckled.

"Remember how I said I would get revenge on you for revealing me to my girlfriend?"

"I absolutely refuse to let you get anyone hurt here. You know you can't beat me after all of our previous fights," I said, crossing my arms.

"Oh, I don't plan on it. I've been watching you . . . I'm going to trap you in the Ghost zone, you see . . . with a few particular people . . . Not your parents, of course. That would be too easy." He chuckled, pulling out some kind of ray thing—it reminded me of the kind that G.U.N. would have.

"What is that?" I scoffed. Honestly, I was worried—what was he planning?

"First, it takes away your Chaos Emeralds and sends them to the place you call home. Second, it will send you and a few of your schoolmates into a fortress deep in the Ghost Zone. They all call it Prison Island. It's literally impossible to escape, you know," he chuckled.

"Who do you plan on sending with me?" I snarled, freaking out because I didn't want anyone new to learn my secret.

"Oh . . . Tails the Fox . . . Amy the Hedgehog . . . Blaze the Cat . . . Silver the Hedgehog . . . Rouge the Bat . . . Knuckles the Echidna . . . they should be enough," he grinned.

"No. You are _not _putting more people in danger because of your grudge against me," I told him.

"But you wouldn't care as much if it was just you. Besides . . . they might want to know who their famous hero is," he grinned, brandishing the gun. Before I could even move, a flash of red light blinded me, and the world went upside down before I suddenly realized I was on the floor of a cell. There were two other cells, one with Rouge, Blaze, and Amy, and one with Tails, Silver, and Knuckles. I checked to make sure I was still Shadow before yelling to wake them up. I was alone in my cell, probably because I was the biggest threat. The cells were all like little boxes on a circle metal platform—and I couldn't see anything beyond that.

"WAKE UP, GUYS!" I shouted. Everyone woke with a start.

"Shadow! . . . Scourge must have negotiated with the guards . . ." said Knuckles, reasoning.

"You mean he bribed them. He's rich enough," said Tails before he could stop himself.

"You know who he is?"

"How else would he be able to get his hands on that kind of a ray gun?" he said quickly to cover up his slip.

"Good point." I tried to Chaos Control, but something on the cell must have prevented it.

"I can't Chaos Control out. I bet my other Chaos abilities won't work either."

"Then we're stuck here!" shrieked Rouge.

"Calm down! There are other ways of getting out!" said Amy.

"Like what?"

"Well, let me think . . . Blaze, could you try burning the bars?" she asked. Blaze turned red, and this was a shock to most of us.

"You're pyro kinetic? But only the Cat royal family has that ability," said Silver slowly, realization dawning on his face as he said so.

"I didn't want anyone to know. I only told Amy because she wasn't going to shout it to the high heavens or post it on her profile online," she said. Obviously, she was calling Rouge out.

"But I can't burn through metal . . . the best I can do is make it a little weaker . . ." she said.

"I'll take care of the rest. There's an electric shield after that, so we can't get to you guys yet," Amy said, smashing the weakened bars with her Piko-Piko hammer once Blaze had gotten them to glow red-hot.

"No worries," said Silver, raising a glowing cyan hand. The bars on their cell bent and broke after glowing intensely.

"So you're psychokinetic? I'm not surprised," I said, "No wonder you never manage to trip when Knuckles tries to get you a face full of slop at lunch."

"What? That was you?" he said, glaring at Knuckles. Meanwhile, Rouge and Tails were busy messing with wires on the computers controlling the shields. In seconds, both were gone, and Knuckles smashed the computer around mine for good measure.

"Amy Rose is here to save the day! Looks like _I'm_ saving _you_ this time," grinned Amy, smashing the lock on my cell. I knocked it open and tested a Chaos Spear into the walls on the sides of the room. The bright energy exploded against the walls.

"Look, we have to go—who knows what kind of guards they have here," said Blaze nervously.

"I think I know," said Tails, pointing at the logo on the computer. It was G.U.N.

"How did they get into the Ghost Zone?" asked Amy incredulously.

"Scourge probably helped them out earlier on in exchange for keeping us locked up," I grumbled, "Now we really have to go," I said, as sirens began to sound. We grabbed hands in a lopsided circle and I yelled,

"_Chaos Control!_" I didn't know what else to do. I didn't even know where we would end up—as it turned out, we were in front of a castle, and I fell to my knees in exhaustion. We didn't need to check out the castle—it probably belonged to that dragon ghost. It wasn't as big as Nocturne's, but I saw charred bits of glowing green grass on the ground around it.

"Shadow? Are you alright?" asked Rouge with a fake sweetness in her voice.

"I'm—fine. I can't afford to pass out. I'll just change back into my other form," I grumbled.

"Are you sure that's a bad thing?" asked Blaze, looking concerned, "Maybe you should change . . . to conserve energy," she said.

"I don't want you all to go telling my secret," I said, glaring at Knuckles, who would normally do anything to humiliate me.

"You've saved our lives, Shadow. The least we could do is keep your secret for you. You go to our school, right? Well . . . I think I'd like to be friends with you," said Silver.

"I won't make you any cooler—not that I would want that anyway. We're okay friends already. I'm lower on status than just about anyone—except maybe Tails," I teased. He rolled his eyes.

"How could _you_ be uncool?" scoffed Knuckles and Rouge.

"Knuckles, you beat me up on a daily basis, tease me, and not to mention you do the same to my friends. Frankly, you're the one who decides who is cool or not, and you decided to put me on the bottom because I'm supposedly weak," I growled.

"And Rouge, I won't even start on the fact that you're too busy being popular to at least try to get good grades and make real friends—You just proved in that prison that you could have aced Technology, but you didn't. Social status doesn't matter much to me anyway," I said. They all looked at me, impressed.

"I think that's the most you've spoken in a while as Shadow," said Amy.

"Don't tell me that you know who he is!" said Blaze incredulously.

"I do too, and so does Sonic—I wonder why Scourge didn't send him too?" asked Tails. I could have face-palmed. All but Knuckles narrowed their eyes. He just had a blank look on his face. I crossed my arms.

"Fine . . . I don't have much choice, do I?" I asked. I let the red lights flash, and felt a little less tired as I turned into Sonic once again.

Rouge stared, openmouthed. Knuckles looked like he did in math when he was asked a question. Blaze and Silver just looked shocked. Tails and Amy, like me, were looking at all of them nervously.

"Sonic, you're Shadow?" asked Blaze finally.

"I am. I know it's hard to believe, but we really should get going . . . I can't imagine that Scourge would just leave the party after sending us here . . ."

"But _how_? We don't know where we are!" said Silver.

"I could Chaos Control us to my house where we can get the emeralds. Then I would be fine and we could deal with him," I reasoned.

"Two Chaos Controls in a row will wipe you out though. You know it," said Amy.

"What choice do I have?"

"We could lend you some of our energy," said Silver thoughtfully.

"Huh?"

"If we all yelled Chaos Control at the same time . . . it wouldn't be all you. Some of our energy would be used, and you wouldn't be wiped out. It would only work if we were all involved, though," he said.

"You're smarter than what I give you credit for," said Blaze, taking his hand. Amy took his other hand and my own, and Tails took my left. We looked at Rouge and Knuckles.

"Are you coming or not?" asked Amy.

"Why should we follow you?" asked Rouge.

"Yeah. Last time I checked, you were weak and helpless—and apparently a liar," said Knuckles. I groaned.

"Do you think I _wanted_ to have this? Do you think I _wanted_ to be the Ultimate Life form, to fight Scourge—who used to be my sister's boyfriend—constantly? Do you think I _want _to be famous and have G.U.N. on my back? I'd be alone in that prison in seconds if it got public! Almost all ghosts are bad—I'm the only one who _seems_ to be doing any good, but that doesn't seem to matter to most people. Until recently, my parents had no clue and they basically wanted to _hunt me down and lock me up! _Don't even mention why I'm collecting pieces of the Master Emerald now—yeah, I found out that if I don't, the timeline will change and I'LL TURN EVIL AND DESTROY THE WORLD IN TEN YEARS!" All of it was just pent up rage that I hadn't managed to get out. Knuckles and Rouge were shaking, and Amy, Tails, Silver, and Blaze looked mildly concerned for their safety.

". . . okay, let's go," said Knuckles, reaching out his hand. I took a shuddering breath and extended mine as well, and we got in a circle.

"Concentrate on my house, if you know what it looks like, and on three we'll all shout Chaos Control," I said, finally calming down.

"One. Two. Three."

"_Chaos Control!"_

We appeared in my bedroom, and I wasn't too tired.

"Alright, now we just need to get the Emeralds, and—" I said, looking in the box I hid under my mattress, and they were gone _again_.

"Stupid Scourge!" I yelled, changing back into Sonic.

"Maybe we can get them from him if you fight him," said Blaze.

"And how is that supposed to work? I'm barely able to fight."

"We'll help," said Silver, hands glowing.

"You sure?"

"Absolutely. I think that Scourge needs a lesson," said Knuckles, crossing his arms.

"Okay. Let's go." I took Amy's and Tails's hands and we made a sort of chain before I changed once more into Shadow and broke out into a full speed run. We got to the school in minutes, and Scourge was indeed holding the emeralds, everyone else tied up on the sides of the gym and guarded by giant green glowing vultures. Obviously, I did the impulsive thing, like always. I charged in.

"That's it, Scourge! I've had it with you and your constant attacking at random! Yeah, I revealed myself to them—and now we're all going to pulverize you!" Simultaneously, many things happened. The vulture ghosts spread their wings menacingly, but did nothing else, as they were probably ordered. Some prisoners screamed. Scourge took out all of the Chaos Emeralds and sneered at me. Amy whipped out her hammer, Tails got out some sort of remote control and flew in a toy plane that had ghost blasters wired to the sides. Both Blaze's and Silver's hands were now glowing, preparing to use their powers, and Rouge and Knuckles took fighting stances. I growled at him.

"You can't take me!" shouted Scourge, and he stood immediately. He had gone his own, twisted version of Super—he turned a deep red-violet, the whites of his eyes turned black, and he was glowing blood-red. I blanched, thinking that it was impossible to beat him like that . . . but he grabbed me in seconds, and I took him at the arms as if we were wrestling. The Chaos energy leaked off of him, and I went Super as well.

"Big mistake." Somehow, I guess from experience, he was a bit better than me . . . I got worn down quickly, and even with the others helping with extra blows from multiple attacks via my friends, still he had the upper hand. I was drained, still Super, but drained. I couldn't hold my Shadow form much longer . . . so I did the thing, unbidden: I turned into Sonic in front of everyone. But I was still in Super form. I was shocked to realize that suddenly, I had tons of energy, and it was actually _easier_ to fight as . . . Super Sonic . . . than Super Shadow at that point, since I didn't actually have the emeralds on me. But I would soon enough.

"What is this?" Scourge was freaking out. I chuckled, and felt that I had some room to brag at this point. No way would anyone recognize me this way . . . at least I hoped.

"Well, apparently, I can access my Super form even when I'm not Shadow. Now it's all the easier to bring you down." I chuckled. His smirk was gone completely now.

"No! No! This is impossible! No—no _normal_ hedgehog could ever—"

"I think we've already established the fact that I'm not normal, Scourge. Now," I started to spin rapidly, like a somersault, as I curled up into a ball. Static from the friction between the air and my quills crackled visibly, and I smirked to myself when I launched at him. He was knocked out of the air, stopped glowing, and the emeralds clattered around him. I picked them up and turned into Super Shadow again.

"You're pathetic," I said, and I left him lying there. When I turned, all the vultures were somehow hog-tied in the middle of the floor by pipes that were currently being welded together by Blaze while Silver held them in place.

"Nice. Where is everyone?" I noticed that all the prisoners were gone.

"Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and Rouge are freeing and/or counseling them. I think a few might have a few issues after this," chuckled Blaze, "Not that I mind most of them being that way. It may get me out of my next history test." I laughed and nodded.

I caught a glint in the feathers of one of the birds . . . no . . . it couldn't be . . . but it was. Another fragment of the Master Emerald collected. The third one—which meant that at any point in time, I could expect a power-hungry beast to come my way. Joy.

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><p><strong>I will have other chapters up very soon. I promise. If you give me a nice review, I won't send Shadow after you telling him you're Mephiles in disguise. :) Bye for now!<strong>


	9. Bet, Fight, and Someone    ?

**Okay, here's a new chapter! I know I was skimpy on Chaos . . . don't like him all that much . . . but I promise that once I get the next chapter actually written, I _will_ post it! I should really get on that.**

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><p>When I headed to school on Thursday, I was surprised by the buzz that was going around.<p>

"Shadow turned into his other form last night—I swear it looked familiar!" said Fang loudly in English before the bell rang.

"Imagine if he went to _school_ here!" sighed Elise, a redheaded, ditzy female human who I actually couldn't stand. We did have a mix of humans and furries in our classes, after all. Knuckles gave a noncommittal grunt. Rouge was staring blankly at the board.

"What's the matter, Knux? You can't make sense since last night. What was with you anyway?"

"I realized that I've been an idiot and a jerk. Why do we beat up the kids who are smarter than us? Why bother? It gains us nothing."

"They do our homework," pointed out Fang, narrowing his eyes.

"Which we could probably do ourselves if we weren't so busy at parties. I'm tired of being the big idiot bully, okay?"

"So . . . you're basically ditching Elise, Rouge, and I."

"I'm staying with Knuckie," said Rouge dangerously.

"Dropping down to what level, Knuckles? Just below the top? Or to the bottom of the barrel?" Fang sneered, jerking his head in my direction when he said "bottom".

"Look—it doesn't have to be that way, Fang. We could still be buds, top of the world and all—you'd just have to stop threatening people in alleys with knives and guns."

"As if! That's the only way to get anything done! I'd bet you anything that whoever Shadow is, he's a sharpshooter, too! No one could have good aim like that otherwise!"

"Or maybe he got lucky," I said, "That's how he said it worked out. After that, it was just practice, instinct, and trying to stay half-alive at best." Fang turned and narrowed his eyes at me.

"Look, I don't really think you ought to butt in on things you don't know about," he growled.

"I know more about Shadow the Hedgehog than anyone in this school, Fang the Sniper," I snapped.

"I doubt that. Unless you make it a bet, I won't believe you."

"Fine, it's a bet. First person to find out Shadow the Hedgehog's secret identity, and come up with fifty legit facts about him, wins."

"You're so on. What are the stakes?"

"Well, when I win, you have to give all of your bodily harming weapons to me and watch me melt them all down, and you can't buy, borrow, steal, or obtain any new ones for the rest of high school. That includes summers," I said warningly.

"That's some high wager! All right, then . . . when I win, you have to be mine and Elise's slave for the rest of high school. That includes summers," he mimicked my voice badly.

"It's a deal then." We shook on it just as the bell rang and class started.

Amy got on my case at lunch.

"What are you thinking? Now he might find out your secret and blab it to the world!"

"Do you think he's going to think it's me when I made that wager? In his mind, Shadow the Hedgehog would be elusive, powerful, cool, and above all, not me."

" . . . Just be careful."

"And besides. If my secret is ever blown, I win." Tails laughed. Suddenly, there was screaming in the parking lot. I turned invisible and into Shadow, Chaos Controlled there, and saw a weird glowing water thing walking around.

"All right, whatever you are, I suggest you stop before you get a pounding," I warned. It turned towards me and an electrical shock zapped through the air towards me—I dodged, but attacked it soon after. All it did was regenerate, though, so I needed to keep moving. I attacked it again and again, but nothing happened.

"Kill it, Shadow! Kill it!" shouted none other than Fang.

"Shut up, kid! I need to concentrate!" I yelled back, "and get out of here unless you want to end up on one of the receiving ends of my Chaos Spear or this guy's attacks!" Everyone seemed to take my advice. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that, one by one, it was taking the Chaos Emeralds. I only noticed when it started to grow and change rapidly.

"Whoa—this isn't supposed to be happening," I said. It started to glow, and before I could do anything about it, a huge tsunami washed over me. I swallowed a mouthful and attempted to reach the surface. Before there was much I could to, I saw that people were on top of buildings for refuge—the thing had just flooded the town!—and that it now resembled a sort of water—dragon—thing. I did the reasonable and responsible thing this time. I swam _through_ the water, which I shouldn't because I can barely swim, up _towards_ its head, and through the neck to where I could see the Chaos Emeralds glowing. I was starting to lose consciousness, when a warm feeling spread through me, and I knew it was the emeralds. I turned into Super Sonic—as I figured that it would use less energy in this case, and began beating on the monster that felt more solid now like no tomorrow. Finally, it died down to its original form. Just as I was going to suck it into the thermos like usual, a voice called.

"Wait!" I turned—it was Ember! I got ready to fight, but she didn't look angry.

"I don't want any trouble, okay? This is Chaos. He's an old friend of mine."

"Your friend just nearly destroyed the entire town," I said bluntly.

"I know. He wasn't in his right mind, ever since we got separated . . . in the fire back home . . ." she said. I was stunned, suddenly realizing what that meant. It must have been her friend until they both . . . died. I couldn't say that outright though.

"No, of course, I get it. You can go back, I won't force you, just don't cause trouble," I said. She smiled gratefully.

"Thanks. You have no idea. Chaos? It's me, Tikal. Let's go back to the Zone, okay? Betcha I can beat you there!" Chaos, like a puppy, ran in the direction of my house. She followed quickly.

"That was certainly interesting," I said as normal Shadow with the Chaos Emeralds around me. I guess ghosts weren't always all bad.

I was not afraid of finding the next piece. I was afraid of getting the five, the seven, and the thirteen. That was scary. What would I have to face? What was I going to have to give up with those? Sure, I learned that Ember and Chaos were okay . . . but the other ones worried me. Meanwhile, I wrote up fifty facts on my computer about myself, including that I was Shadow the Hedgehog, and hid them away to shove in Fang's face if I ever had to give up my secret.

But anyway, I was fighting the usual ghosts when I met a strange sight. A ghost echidna with a dark outfit that had glowing symbols on it joined—and she helped me.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Call me Shade the Echidna."

"Nice to meet you. Now, how about we finish him?"

"Sounds reasonable enough. Chaos—"

"Spear!" we both shouted, and our combined attack finished the large blob of green goo with red eyes. It shrieked and disintegrated. I went into an alley, changed into Sonic, and came back to find the echidna girl gone. In her place stood a young girl, twelve or thirteen. She was a hedgehog with blonde hair down her back.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hi. I'm Sonic. Do you need help?" I asked.

"I'm Maria . . . I don't . . . know. Can you help me? I don't remember . . ." she tried to convey it, but looked at me helplessly and immediately. _I don't remember who I am._

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><p><strong>Any good? 'Dani' Phantom . . . well, I tried my best . . . I thought Shade fit the role nicely. And since I couldn't do anything else, I figured, why not bring back Maria the Hedgehog? This is the end of all prewritten content, so I'll be taking longer on this story. Feel free to check out my other ones though, I'll be updating soon!<strong>


	10. Maria the Hedghog and Shade the Echidna

**I'm raising the rating on this fic to T because of paranoia for upcoming chapters. This one's fine though!**

**I'm baaack! Sort of. I literally just typed most of this chapter and it is NOT very good. But I intend to improve as the story will speed up very quickly and will be easier to write once I get past this story arc that starts at the end of this chapter. Sooo... I do not own Sonic or Danny Phantom. I wish I did though. I would come up with interesting plots for games. And I would make sure the jokes are not so awfully cheesy in some cases. Then again my jokes are very cheesy. I'm much better with riddles!**

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><p><em><strong>Last time, on Sonic Halfa Chronicles:<strong>_

_"I'm Maria . . . I don't . . . know. Can you help me? I don't remember . . ." she tried to convey it, but looked at me helplessly and immediately. I don't remember who I am._

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><p>"Amnesia, then? Well, I knew a Maria, once, but she can't be you. She was a human, not a hedgehog." Her eyes widened.<p>

"Oh . . . sorry . . . um . . . I don't know much, but I think I was in a circus . . . something . . . about a promise? And Shadow the Hedgehog got me out, I think." Well, that's certainly interesting.

"That's what happened to the human Maria I think. Any idea what happened recently before you came here?"

"A guy in a fancy suit sent me here from some sort of lab and told me to help you. He told me to call him uncle, but I'm pretty sure we're not related. He said to bring Shadow to him if I wanted answers . . . I'm not sure if I want to do that. He didn't seem to like Shadow."

"Well, Maria, it just so happens that I'm Shadow," I winked. She gasped.

"So you're like me? You can change back and forth too? I'm Shade!" she smiled.

"And I think I know exactly who sent you to me. I only know one guy who wears fancy coats and owns a lab." Bartleby.

We got to the lab and made ourselves known in style—we crashed through the walls.

"All right, Scourge, we want answers," I growled. He turned, laughing, sitting sideways in his chair, with his feet hanging over the armrest.

"Oh, Shadow, Shade. Let's party—I've got answers all right, but I doubt you'd want them if you knew," he said.

"You're going to tell us what happened to Maria, and then you're going to give her back her memory. Afterwards, I'll try not to end what's left of your life," I said darkly.

"Wow, that's dark for a hero. Who do you think you are? Batman?" he grinned.

"Well, you're certainly a joker. Now spill." Shade said. He whistled.

"I was going to tell you anyway, hot stuff. (I shuddered at this. The guy was being way too creeperish for my taste.) You see, Maria Robotnik recently was taken to the hospital for cancer treatment—they were willing to test something new on her, and as she was going to die anyway, and she agreed. I happened upon her with my plans for Shadow here already intact. I was going to clone him—but each one failed, melting into ectoplasm after a while.

"However, if I started with a living base for the cloning process, then that wouldn't happen. So I took some DNA from both Shadow's and Sonic's forms and fused them with Maria's—of course, after the hospital proclaimed her dead and buried her 'corpse' which I orchestrated completely. Her parents aren't too heartbroken because they believe she's in a better place now, as I hear it. I felt that Maria's screams were so painful, I decided to wipe her memory—well, at least most of it. Be happy, little girl, because you get to live on, because the cancer treatment they were trying wouldn't have helped a bit. I saved your life, and I figured you might want to return the favor as my personal little helper," he grinned. She scowled.

"You . . . saved my life?"

"Yes, and since you're not a perfect clone of Sonic, you'll have to do. You're the granddaughter of Gerald, yes? The niece of that crackpot Ivo who ended up dying because a forklift in his own warehouse ran over him? I don't know or care about your parents, but I can tell you that you come from a family of geniuses. Gerald had the right idea. The old man was trying to make an ultimate weapon, an artificial ghost that would do his bidding. And the Box Ghost—your uncle Ivo, Maria-he gave me documents that could pretty much help me make the Ultimate Weapon. Surely that'll be enough to beat the Ultimate Life Form. I just need your help, and he'll give me access..."

"How about this, Scourge! I won't help you. All we wanted when we came here was the information. Now we're leaving," she grumbled.

"It's either you or Shadow," he said nonchalantly. "Eggman just said he wanted a half-ghost to experiment on with his box contraptions . . . he's not picky."

"How's about neither, and I'll throw in a free beating," we said together.

"Have it your way. I could just throw out some knock-out gas and send you over to him . . . I'm sure the experiments will be very painful." He grinned.

"On three, we get out of here," I muttered, grabbing her hand. I tapped my foot to signal _one_.

"What was that?" Scourge asked, holding up a gun that would definitely shoot gas-bombs at us, knock us out, and leave us to his mercy. I tapped my foot again. _Two_.

"Absolutely nothing. If you're taking anyone, it's going to be me . . ." He realized just too late that we could easily teleport out. _Three_.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" we both shouted, landing in my room. We transformed.

"Are you okay, Maria?" I asked.

"I'm fine. But where am I going to go?"

"My parents know my secret. They'll love to have you, I just know it," I told her. And if they didn't—which I didn't think was physically possible—then I would hide her in my room until I was old enough to adopt her. She needed a home. And I swore to myself she'd get one—one way or another.

Maria was a much better sister than Sonia, in my opinion. She and I both liked music, she wasn't a know-it-all like Sonia, and frankly, Maria was just plain awesome as a friend, too. Sonia . . . well, you can't exactly pick your family. She's annoying as they come.

"Mom? Dad? Sonia?" I asked, walking into the house, Maria holding my hand. No answer.

"Guys?" I asked again. Nothing. Then a figure shimmered into existence and grinned maliciously. I groaned.

"What do you want, Eggman?"

"You see, Sonic, I want you to bow down before me, for I am the master of all things cube and plan to—" I blasted him and put him in the thermos.

"Maria, let's find my parents." We wandered through the house. It was empty.

"This is really weird. No note . . . nothing. Please let nothing bad have happened to them…" I muttered. Maria's eyes widened.

"There is a note . . . but it's over here…" I looked to find a typed document on the kitchen table.

_Shadow the Hedgehog. You broke out of my prison—now you must be punished. And if you're the Shadow I know, you're going to pay for everything. It's the rules. Until you return, I have the following people in my custody: Alena the Hedgehog, Chuck the Hedgehog, Sonia the Hedgehog, Miles Prower, Amy the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, Knuckles the Echidna, Blaze the Cat, Silver the Hedgehog, Fang the Sniper, and Elise Soleanne. Soleanne's parents have graciously called me and taken her and Fang back, as they are upstanding citizens in the community. I was recently made aware of your identity in this. Turn yourself in if you want them free. –Commander Stone, G. U. N._

I groaned.

"Seriously?! Come on Maria, we've got to get to the ghost zone."

"Wait, Sonic… do you need these?" she handed me two pieces of the Master Emerald, shaped like two halves of a heart.

"Thanks, Maria. I need all thirteen pieces eventually . . . that's a big help," I smiled, but inwardly I was scrambling to remember the note. _Three—Chaos. Check. What's five? A trial… a trial by fire. Well at least it's not a trial by water. Still need to learn how to swim._

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><p><strong>...speaking of riddles, I recently heard these four. If you ever use them in real life, I will feel better in knowing that I shared some useless wisdom with a few people and made a few others scratch their heads for a long time. <strong>

**What gets bigger the more you take out of it? _a hole in the ground_**

**(Tell them it's a math problem, not a riddle, and they'll go nuts:) You're driving a bus. Fifteen people get on at the first stop. Three get on and four get off at the second stop. Six get off and eight get on at the third stop. Ten get off at the fourth stop. What color are the bus driver's eyes? _I said "You're driving a bus"-it's your eye color!_**

**This object has a heart and its last five letters mean "to strangle". _artichoke_**

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><p><strong>See you guys later!<strong>


	11. Stone Meets Shadow

**It's been forever, huh? Well . . . I'll try to pick up the pace, but no guarantees. Senior year is coming up, so all we can do is hope for the best.**

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><p>I hurried to the ghost portal. We were flying as Shadow and Shade, heading in any direction we could to find the G. U. N. fortress. It was nowhere in sight. You'd think that a gigantic prison would be easy to spot. Shade pointed out a small door-there were doors floating everywhere in the place-that had an inky, swirling design on it.<p>

"Nah, it'd be more . . . obvious. Stone has an ego." How I knew that, I wasn't sure. But we hadn't flown far before we saw it—a huge prison on an asteroid-island before them.

_G. U. N. Penitential Center_ was carved into the stone sign above it.

"Well, you're right," chuckled Shade.

We flew invisibly into the high-tech prison. No human could escape from that. I glared at the painting of Stone at the entrance. Conceited—how had I known that without even meeting him?

The bars on every cell glowed green with an energy shield. I knew that shield from my parents' experiments—ghosts couldn't get through. The prison was one massive hall with three floors—walkways lined either side of the hall and occasionally crossed, but other than that, I could see to the bottom floor. Finally Shade and I reached an iron door at the end with a sign that had three labels: Human Prisoners, Stone's Office, and Interrogation. We tried but couldn't open the door. A light began flashing a moment later, and we stopped our invisibility.

"Alarm. We've got to run—" But a sharp pain like a needle stabbed my neck, and I knew no more.

I woke up facing toxic green fire, and noticing my hands were bound behind my back to a chair. Looking to my right, Maria was in the same position. So I was Sonic now. I looked up to see my parents and Sonia in a cell hanging above the fire.

The door opened, and Commander Stone walked in. He was a tall man with white hair in a military buzz cut—about thirty years old, so the white hair was unnatural. A scar ran from his left eye's outer corner to halfway down his cheek. Something about it made me smirk, as if I remembered how he'd gotten it.

_Try and control me. See where it gets you._ My thoughts distinctly had Shadow's voice there . . . I shook my head. The man wore a long trench coat.

"So here you are. Shadow has been controlling your body, but you're still human. Unauthorized humans are not allowed in the Ghost dimension, boy. It's against the rules. And you aren't supposed to be alive, either."

"What are you _talking _about?" I said. "I've never seen you before in my life. I've never heard any rules about this. Why'd you kidnap my family?" He paused, glaring at me.

"Shadow," and his voice had the echo of a lower, less gravelly one. His eyes glowed green for a moment, and there almost seemed to be a different, taller man there.

"My name's Sonic," I snapped. He shrugged.

"Shadow, Sonic—doesn't matter. You can hear me either way. I knew I'd be able to lure you here. I'll have to pay Scourge after all for his tip. Besides that, I need to see if you really are Shadow, or just Shadow Android, possessing this little blue hedgehog here.

"There's no ghost possessing me. I'm half-ghost." The man chuckled.

"Scourge and I experimented with that. Not quite true. You see, when a person is killed in a ghost-related accident… they don't quite die. A weak ghost that is nearby is drawn to them, and they fuse. The weak ghost half-possesses, half-becomes the living person, and likewise the live one to the ghost. Nearly dying gives the ghost the power they need to fuse with them, and their DNA merge. Mostly, the living . . . hedgehog, in your case . . . has all of the memories and personality. However, as time passes, the ghost side has no will of their own except within your subconscious. They have their own personality and memories, and as you grow stronger, so do they, because they have become a part of you. Shadow has. My experiment here will hopefully free the barrier between your two personalities and memories." With that, he picked up a large syringe for me to see. _Ectoplasm—gotta move!_ I tried to free myself.

Mom screamed, and still the syringe went into my arm. Liquid fire seemed to spread in my veins, spiderwebbing itself outward from the needle. Then a strange contraption, a glowing green net it seemed, was moved up and down the chair.

"No, agh, no," I grunted. And soon Maria's voice joined me in the struggle against the fire. My vision was blurry, but I continued to struggle to get free. Stone chuckled, and Shadow audibly growled in my head.

_I hate him._ I frowned, despite the pain. _Shadow?_ I asked in my thoughts. I got an impression of surprise.

_Sonic? Thought we were one person . . . I guess not quite . . . but I still feel like I'm you._

_ Huh . . . kinda like we're connected, in the same body. _

_ You're definitely in charge of everything, I can tell that. But you can let me take charge when you want. _

_ This is downright insane. _

_ You'd be surprised. I studied ghosts with Gerald Robotnik since he and I met. For years . . . but I don't remember it all . . ._

_ So how do you suppose we get free from Commander Stone's prison here, with Maria and my family, with minimal injury?_

_ Hn. Let me take over for ten minutes._

_ Okay . . . don't scare them though . . ._

_ No guarantees._

I relaxed, letting that presence in my head take over. He smirked and transformed back into Shadow. It was weird—I saw and felt everything, but I wasn't really there.

"You made a big mistake, Stone."

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><p><strong>I know it's short, but better than nothing, hey? I'll work as hard as I can to update, and I'm really sorry for not doing so recently. <strong>

**I've got a lot of stories going, and not a lot of free time. I know it's an excuse, but that's what I'm giving. Questions, comments, concerns, ideas, criticisms-I accept them all!**

**See you guys later!**

**Flute Chick**


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